PC World Videos on New Products ---
http://www.pcworld.com/video.html
Bob Jensen's threads on ubiquitous computing ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ubiquit.htm
"Project Video, Photos from a Phone PowerPoint decks in your pocket,"
Business Week Video, November 2008 ---
http://feedroom.businessweek.com/?fr_story=32c50be245fe235d42a0895cec076331c8bda821
The gadget comes from Microvision ---
http://www.microvision.com/
"Pulse Smartpen by Livescribe," Rick Lillie's Thinking Outside the
Box Blog, May 9, 2010 ---
http://iaed.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/pulse-smartpen-by-livescribe/
While attending a recent accounting education
conference, I played with
Pulse Smartpen by
Livescribe.
The Pulse Smartpen records and links audio to what you
write. It provides an interesting way to take notes and capture information
that can be played back later for review, study, and/or sharing with others.
I was curious about ways the Pulse Smartpen might
be used to create course materials and share them with students.
Livescribe’s website includes a variety of illustrative recordings. Click
this link to view a demo lecture entitled “Crossing
the Chasm.” The demo shows how to use
the Pulse Smartpen to record and share a lecture that includes
drawing a picture or diagram and supporting the drawing with audio.
[NOTE: In order to make the viewing screen easier to see, you may wish to
click the icon in the upper right-corner of the playback screen to enlarge
the viewing screen.]
I see how the Pulse Smartpen can capture a drawing
and audio explaining the drawing. This could be particularly useful for
creating a walk-through explanation of a problem or process. Note that you
need to draw the picture from scratch as you put together a walk-through
explanation.
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on tricks and tools of the trade ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm
iPhone Versus the Blackberry?
Here’s a video ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl7cqFQatP4
But features have changed since this video was created. The iPhone has more
apps, but some users are not after these many applications.
Video: Laser Pico Projector Microvision "Show" ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UfarRM0BoM
"iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Projector Plans Revealed," ElectricPig,
March 17, 2010 ---
http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2010/03/17/ipad-iphone-and-macbook-projector-plans-revealed-apple-patent-spied/
iPad, iPhone and Macbook models could become part
of a projector system if Apple makes good on a patent that’s been uncovered.
The plans revive speculation that Apple is pondering putting pico projectors
into future iPad, iPhone and Macbook designs and using them as controllers
in a projection system.
Apple’s patent details several different approaches
to creating a projection system. It may create a brand new controller for a
projection system with a pico projector built-in or bake the feature in to
future versions of the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Macbook.
With its eye on further promoting the iPhone and
iPad (and its iWork suite) as business tools, one reason for bringing a
projector to the iPhone OS family would be to make them more attractive to
business people that give presentations all the time.
Putting a powerful pico projector into the iPad or
iPhone would give business folk a way of quickly showing what they’re
working on and as Patently Apple suggests could easily be integrated with
Apple’s Keynote Remote app.
Meanwhile, after promoting the iPod Touch as the
“funnest iPod” and gunning for the gaming market with the iPhone and iPad, a
pico projector could bring extra appeal for casual gamers. Rumours of an
iPhone pico projector first surfaced last summer.
There’s also the potential for a pico projector
power up to allow you to project films or TV shows from your iPad or iPhone
onto any suitable surface. It would be a great move to make the iPad even
more appealing as an on-the-go entertainment machine.
Apple’s patent details a networked projection
system using multiple clients and suggests that the projector could even be
built into a network hub in the same way that Time Capsule has a router
built-in.
As usual with Apple, just because they’ve toyed
with an idea doesn’t mean it will ever reach us. But we’d love to see Apple
TV perked up with a built-in projector and future iPad and iPhone variations
with pico projectors.
Video from the Los Angeles Times: Android Versus iPhone ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17IB2ipYY3I
"A Wave of Android Smartphones Outsells Apple: Devices that run
Google's Android software outsold the iPhone in the first quarter, helping make
Verizon Wireless a smartphone powerhouse," Olga Kharl, Business Week,
May 20, 2010 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2010/tc20100510_027179.htm?link_position=link1
This story has been updated to include a comment from Apple.
A storefront in one of the busiest shopping
districts in downtown Portland, Ore., is painted black, with "Droid Does" in
large letters over the doors.
Orchestrated by carrier
Verizon Wireless, aggressive promotions such as
this one for Motorola's (MOT)
Droid smartphone, plus a blitz of direct mail,
newspaper, and TV ads, and two-for-one deals on Android-powered handsets,
lifted first-quarter sales of smartphones based on Google's (GOOG)
Android operating system above sales of Apple's
(AAPL)
iPhone for the first time, market researcher
NPD Group reported on May 10.
Android-powered phones accounted for 28 percent of
all smartphones sold in the U.S., exceeding Apple's 21 percent share during
the quarter, NPD said. Research in Motion's (RIMM)
BlackBerry models led the category with a 36 percent
share.
Leapfrogging Apple is an important milestone—and
not just for Android, an open-source software developed by a consortium of
companies led by Google. NPD's report also shows how quickly Verizon
Wireless has become a central player in the fast-growing market for the
pocket computers known as smartphones. In the first quarter, Verizon
customers bought 30 percent of all smartphones sold in the U.S., nearly
equaling the 32 percent share of AT&T (T),
which has an exclusive contract to sell the iPhone, according to the report.
AT&T also sells an Android handset from Motorola and plans to carry an
upcoming Android smartphone from Dell (DELL).
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said in an
e-mailed statement on May 11 that NPD's report is "very limited" and based
on 150,000 U.S. consumers responding to an online survey. The survey "does
not account for the more than 85 million iPhone and iPod touch customers
worldwide," she said. The "iPhone has 16.1 percent of the smartphone market
and growing, far outselling Android on a worldwide basis," Harrison said,
citing data from market researcher
IDC.
Verizon no longer seen as desperate
Until recently, Verizon was an also-ran in the
smartphone market. It carried the BlackBerry, but didn't have a breakthrough
consumer-oriented smartphone to compete with the iPhone. Analysts were
calling for Verizon to strike a deal with Apple to distribute the iPhone.
Last December, Verizon said it had
effected network upgrades that would enable its
network to handle extra traffic should Apple decide to expand the number of
carriers authorized to sell iPhones.
"Pint-Size Peripherals Scan or Print at a Price," by Katherine Boehret,
The Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2010 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704820904575055321581158304.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_RIGHTTopCarousel
It's often said that less is more. If only this
were true for computer devices like printers and scanners, which take up a
lot of desktop real estate. The reality is that small, stylish, portable
versions of these gadgets are often pricey and not as functional.
This week, I reviewed two products that
unfortunately live up to that reality: a portable printer and mini scanner
that put a premium on good looks at $300 each. I've been using
Fujitsu's newest $295 mini scanner, the ScanSnap
S1300 (fujitsu.com),
and PlanOn System Solutions Inc.'s tiny $300 PrintStik
PS905ME (http://3.ly/6QVS).
There are several good printers, scanners or all-in-ones that cost
significantly less or offer more functionality than these devices.
But boy, do these gadgets look good. The Fujitsu
ScanSnap collapses down to a small, rectangular box with mirrored buttons.
The PlanOn PrintStik resembles a box of aluminum foil in the kitchen
drawer—except more compact.
Both devices are small and lightweight enough to
fit in a bag or briefcase, if necessary. Either one of these could be ported
around without a problem: The PrintStik weighs 1.5 pounds and the ScanSnap
weighs twice as much at 3.08 pounds. Both fit well in a tiny work space or
on the desktops of people like me, who don't print or scan much and don't
want a device taking up a lot of space.
As is usually the case with smaller devices that
lack display screens and extra buttons, one hopes they come with
straightforward software or simply plug in and play. The Fujitsu ScanSnap
meets that requirement with software that installs on Macs or PCs and can be
used without reading complicated instructions.
The PlanOn PrintStik uses thermal printing to
produce images and characters on scrolls of paper. The PlanOn PrintStik
worked adequately as a basic black-and-white printer for Windows PCs (it
isn't Mac compatible), but fell short as a wireless printer for smart
phones. The PrintStik is meant to receive and print documents sent to it via
Bluetooth from BlackBerrys, but I found the BlackBerry program to be clumsy
and in the end, it didn't even work despite at least two dozen attempts.
PlanOn's tech support said they thought my PrintStik's Bluetooth could be
faulty, but couldn't send me a new device in time for this column.
These two devices offer some interesting design
elements. The PlanOn PrintStik PS905ME uses thermal printing—an old
technology that has been around for decades—rather than ink cartridges, to
produce images and characters by applying heat at tiny points.
The PrintStik's thermal printing only works with
special scrolls of thin, slippery paper. It comes in packs of six rolls for
$23; one roll is about 23 feet long and prints roughly 30 sheets of
letter-size paper. You can opt to print only as much as a document requires
to save paper. But a long document prints out in one continuous scroll
rather than separate pages.
The PrintStik has a rechargeable battery that lasts
long enough to print about 30 pages; a wall charger is also included. It can
churn out up to three pages per minute. I can imagine tossing this printer
into my suitcase for business trips; it would also come in handy for
printing boarding passes for use at the airport, among other things.
Documents that are supposed to be printable from
the BlackBerry with a remote-printing app include Web pages, attachments
including PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, JPEGs, and PowerPoint
presentations. PlanOn representatives say an app will be available for
Apple's iPhone and Google's Android phones in about four or five months;
they also are working on an iPad application. Though the PrintStik's
remote-printing app for the BlackBerry is currently free, the company
intends to begin charging $30 annually for its remote-printing service this
summer.
Fujitsu's ScanSnap S1300 can suck in 10 pages at
once, and has two cameras that can scan the front and back of printouts.
This process can scan as many as eight dual-sided pages a minute. Item sizes
range from 2x2-inch cards to legal documents.
The ScanSnap comes with a wall charger but also
runs without being plugged into the wall: It uses a USB cord for charging
from a PC in addition to the USB cord that transfers data between the
scanner and computer.
Seconds after I scanned documents into the ScanSnap,
colorful icons appeared on my computer screen. Choosing one of these icons
let me send the documents to one of the following: email, Word, a printer,
Excel, iPhoto or Cardiris—a program that exports contact information from
scanned business cards into Address Book or Entourage; CardMinder on Windows
exports contact information to Outlook and other programs.
If you want to scan old or precious documents, you
may not like using the ScanSnap's sucking method for scanning, in case a
page gets stuck or damaged. For sensitive objects or page scanning, the best
bet is to use a flatbed scanner or all-in-one (that prints, scans, and
faxes) with a lift-up lid that scans items on a flat surface.
Though the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 and PlanOn
PrintStik PS905ME aren't the least expensive or the most functional devices
of their kind, they're easy to move around and take up minimal amounts of
space. For some people, that may be well worth the higher cost.
—Edited by Walter S. Mossberg.
Question
What hand-held device can photograph close up and read aloud from books, price
labels, receipts, and newspapers?
Hint:
This device has far more uses beyond being a helper for sight impaired people.
For one thing, auditors might make use of this when detail testing.
Intel
Reader ---
http://www.intel.com/healthcare/reader/index.htm
The Intel Reader, powered by an Atom processor, is a handheld device with a
five-megapixel camera that can read aloud any printed text it is pointed at,
including product labels, receipts, and pages from books and newspapers.
Previously, visually impaired or dyslexic people required a desktop scanner
connected to a computer to convert print into speech.
"Scan and Listen," MIT's Technology Review, December 17, 2009 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/24198/?a=f
Bob Jensen's threads on gadgets are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob4.htm#Technology
YouTubeMP3
From the Scout Report on August 14, 2009
Free YouTube to MP3 Converter 3.2.1.58
---
http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/free-dvd-video-software-download.htm
If you've ever wanted to just listen to a
particular YouTube video at your leisure as a mp3 file, this application may
be just the thing. Visitors simply need to install the program and drop the
YouTube URLs in question into a box. The application will convert the files
into the mp3 format. This version is compatible with computers running
Windows XP or Vista.
Jensen Comment
I tried this and my first saved file was a MP3 file of Les Paul and
Mary Ford
The full video file on YouTube is at
World is Waiting for the Sunrise ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iGXP_UBog4
I pasted the above URL into the converter program and saved it to my hard
drive as a MP3 file.
It saved as a 3,132 Kb compressed audio file that you can listen to at
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/LesPaulWaitingForSunrise.mp3
It's neat the way the program can download in background from YouTube.
This way you can start a download and then go about your business in other
software. Your computer will give a tiny bleep when the download is
finished. If you then download another file, be sure to first change the
"Output" file name so as to not write over the previous download file.
A clear advantage to saving YouTube audio or video is that these links
come and go on YouTube all the time. The above link to the Les Paul and Mary
Ford video might even have been removed between now and when I pasted the
above link into this document. But my MP3 recording is now subject to my
control, although care must be taken with respect to copyrights. I assumed
that this demo will not upset anybody. U.C. Berkeley and other universities
who put full length lectures and courses on YouTube encourage users to
download the audio or video files (the video takes up an enormous amount of
file space).
Another advantage is that you easily edit the MP3 file and/or make
clipped portions to be saved as other audio files. For example, a six-minute
clip might be saved from a 75-minute YouTube lecture from MIT.
I was amazed at the ease with which YouTube audio can be captured and
saved as a file on my hard drive. When it’s audio that’s more important than
video of a talking head or unneeded viewing of music performers, there is a
great savings in storage requirements for audio files versus video files.
This includes the wasted space of talking heads in videos and the desire to
hear music without necessarily always having to watch it performed while you
are playing it in background.
Librarian Pro 1.4.4 ---
http://www.koingosw.com/products/librarianpro.php
This application is a nice way to create an
organized and cross-referenced catalog for books, movies, and music.
Visitors can keep track of loaned material, and they can easily import
detailed cataloging information from popular sites like Amazon. Also, the
application allows users to export these lists onto iPod and other such
devices. This version can be used for fifteen days at no cost, and it is
compatible with computers running Windows XP and newer and those running Max
OS X 10.4 and newer.
"GPS: More Features, At Lower Prices: Whether you want just good
basic navigation or lots of extra features, these portable in-car GPS units
won't cost you an arm and a leg," by Liane Cassavoy, PC World via The
Washington Post, November 13, 2008 ---
Click Here
In most cases, though, the more you pay for a GPS,
the more features you'll get. The chart-topping, $425 Magellan Maestro 4350
and the second-place, $480 TomTom GO 930 are the two most expensive systems
we tested. And they do offer lots of extras, like hands-free calling with
Bluetooth, FM transmission (so you can hear turns announced over your car
stereo), and built-in audio and video players. But they also truly earned
their leading positions due to their excellent navigation features: These
two devices consistently found the quickest, most convenient routes.
The Navigon 2200T landed in our third spot,
followed by the Garmin Nuvi 265T. Rounding out our Top 5 was the $220 TomTom
One 130 S--a very basic, but still capable, navigator. All three of these
devices will get you where you're going without a problem. They all sport
3.5-inch screens, which seems cramped compared to the 4.3-inch screens found
on the Magellan and the TomTom GO 930. But they prove that you don't have to
ante up the big bucks to get a reliable navigation device.
In fact, paying more doesn't mean you're
necessarily going to get better navigation advice. The Sony NV-U94T, which
missed the cut, lists for $400 (you can find it online for about $375)--and
it provided some of the worst directions we've seen. In one case, its route
was so far off that I was convinced I had entered the destination
incorrectly (I hadn't). In another instance, I asked it to avoid toll roads,
and it sent me on--you guessed it--a toll road.
Continued in article
"New Keyboard Saves Accountants Time," SmartPros, January 18,
2008 ---
http://accounting.smartpros.com/x60437.xml
The R-Tab Keyboard homepage is at
http://www.r-tab.com/
"Gadgets Show How Much Power Your House Eats," Geoffrey F. Fowler,
The Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2009 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204261704574276022585190910.html
Curtailing your home electricity use is a bit like
losing weight: You already understand the basics of how to do it, but it’s
hard to accomplish without help and motivation. An array of gadgets are
vying to serve as electricity personal trainers, monitoring home power use
minute by minute, and making you feel guilty about indulgences like blasting
the air conditioner.
I have been testing three of these devices, the
Power Monitor from Black & Decker Corp., the very similar PowerCost Monitor
from Blue Line Innovations Inc., and the more-sophisticated The Energy
Detective 5000 from Energy Inc. In my tests, the Black & Decker model
provided the most effortless electricity-tracking service. At $99.99, it is
also the least expensive.
The devices provide real-time data about how much
power you’re using across the house in terms that are easy to comprehend:
cost per hour and cost per month. Turn on the microwave and watch the cost
jump from 10 cents to 25 cents an hour. Turn off some lights and see the
cost drop a few cents.
The firms say their customers have, over time, seen
drops of as much as 20% in power bills by being more mindful of electricity
use and making informed purchases, such as installing efficient light bulbs.
The largest drops are often recorded in households that have (power-hogging)
electric water heaters, and where the whole family gets involved in
monitoring use. An independent Oxford University study in 2006 found that
people getting direct feedback on their power consumption reduced use 5% to
15%.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
These gadgets don't much interest me personally since I'm an economical old dog
to a point who, at this stage of life, will be frugal with power but not to a
point where I will sacrifice quality of life. But I see an immense opportunity
here for business firms and other organizations to identify and correct power
wastage.
These gadgets might be of interest in managerial/cost accounting courses.
Students might be assigned to think creatively about how to use these gadgets in
particular business firms such as fast food restaurants or law offices.
2008 Gadget Ratings from Wired News ---
http://www.wired.com/reviews
Geeky Toy Gifts ---
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/gadgetreviews/multimedia/2008/11/gallery_toys_robots
Audacity Free Audio Recorder and Editor ---
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Free Audio Dub 1.4.1.2 ---
http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-Audio-Dub.htm
The fastest way to edit audio files!
Free Audio Dub is the free audio editing software
that lets you delete unwanted parts from audio files without re-encoding.
And "without re-encoding" means without loosing
original quality!!! This is a lossless conversion, which is very fast.
Supports many audio formats: MP3, WAV, AAC, AC3,
M4A, MP2, OGG, WMA .
The latest free versions of RealPlayer will capture streaming video
without having to install capture card hardware ---
Click Here
Real Media ---
http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=RealMedia
Jing Free Video Capture (video) ---
http://video.techsmith.com/jing/latest/demo/introvideo/index.html
Jing Download ---
http://www.techsmith.com/download/default.asp
Camtasia Studio (not free but great for the price) ---
http://www.techsmith.com/products.asp
A-Z Free Video Converter 6.81 ---
http://www.cnn-video.com/download.html
A-Z Free Video Converter allows users to convert a
wide range of file formats (such as WMV, MPEG, and DIVX) to the popular MOV
formats (especially good for Quicktime players). The converter can be
helpful for a range of media projects, including classroom presentations and
the like. This particular version is compatible with computers running
Windows 95 and newer.
You can also make these conversions in Camtasia Producer, but this software
is not free like the A-Z Video Converter software.
You can read about Camtasia at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm
Related Jensen Links
Technology ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob4.htm#Technology
Streaming Media ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#StreamingMedia
The latest free versions of RealPlayer will capture streaming video
without having to install capture card hardware ---
Click Here
Real Media ---
http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=RealMedia
"Giving Up on Gadgets: A Pew survey shows that most of us are
fed up, and some of us give up when our tech tools -- and tech support -- fail
us," Brennon Slatterly, The New York Post, November 18, 2008 ---
Click Here
A national survey conducted by the
Pew Institute solidified what we already know:
technology fails and it burns us up.
The survey sought to unearth how often our tech
fails, how we try to fix it, and our feelings about the process. The numbers
are pretty astounding:
The first stat is huge but also predictable. Think
about Comcast and its notoriously shoddy customer service. How many times
have you signed up for wireless Internet access only to find it doesn't work
properly? Then you have to call customer service, wait a billion years for a
human being, and either navigate the problem over the phone or elect to have
an agent visit your home, again, and get charged for the inconvenience.
The San Francisco Chronicle
asked Comcast spokesperson Andrew Johnson for the
company's thoughts on the research. Johnson responded evasively and then
tried to shift blame. "A lot of the issues fall in the user error category,"
he said. Blurbs like that don't exactly inspire my confidence.
How does this process of failure and
solution-hunting make us feel? You probably guessed it right: 59 percent
were impatient; 48 percent were discouraged; and 40 percent were confused.
The scariest stat from the Pew's research was that
while 38 percent of respondents called customer service, 28 percent fixed
the problem themselves, and 15 percent got help from friends or relatives,
another 15 percent of gadget-owners gave up. Once their machine died, their
will to fix it died, too.
I wonder what this says about us as gadget owners.
Is it that the gadgets themselves are too complicated? Too prone to
malfunction? Or is it our overwhelming impatience towards the lengthy and
complicated process?
I can't imagine dropping serious dough on a piece
of equipment and then just throwing in the towel, no matter how obnoxious
the repairs may be. I'd sooner sit on the phone for two hours than let it
go, but apparently 15 percent of those polled don't feel the same.
Continued in article
May 4, 2008 message from Richard Campbell
[campbell@RIO.EDU]
I have placed a (Camtasia)
video online on omnisio.com, which allows comments to be placed OVER the
video.
http://www.omnisio.com/v/49zPDUbdjhG/the-basic-accounting-equation
This is a video that I
have on youtube and just linked it to Omnisio.
Jensen Comment
There are some other cool things to do with video at
http://www.omnisio.com/
Question
Is Apple's MobileMe a good idea for you?
"Apple's MobileMe Is Far Too Flawed To Be Reliable," by Walter S. Mossberg,
The Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2008; Page D1 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121685869764279343.html
So it was a big deal when Apple announced
a new service that, for $100 a year, would bring corporate-type
synchronization of email, calendars and contacts to anyone. It was even
better that Apple promised that the service, called MobileMe, would work on
Windows computers as well as on the company's own Macintosh computers,
iPhones and iPod Touch hand-helds. To top it off, Apple threw in 20
gigabytes of online storage, a suite of Web-based applications, the ability
to synchronize browser bookmarks and an online photo gallery.
Unfortunately, after a week of intense
testing of the service, I can't recommend it, at least not in its current
state. It's a great idea, but, as of now, MobileMe has too many flaws to
keep its promises.
I am not referring to the launch glitches
that plagued MobileMe earlier this month, such as servers that couldn't keep
up with the traffic and email outages that, for some users, persist as I
write this. Those were bad, but they have eased considerably. Apple already
has apologized for them and is giving customers an extra 30 days on their
subscriptions to make up for the poor start. The problems I am citing are
systemic.
Here's how it's supposed to work. You
subscribe to MobileMe and set up a new MobileMe email account, which can
also suck in email from your current address. Your MobileMe email is pushed
to your Windows computer using your choice of Microsoft Outlook, Outlook
Express or the new Windows Mail program. It's also pushed to your Mac using
the built-in Apple Mail program. And it shows up instantly on your iPhone in
the phone's built-in email program.
Similarly, if you add, delete or change a
calendar entry or a contact on any of the devices, the change automatically
is reflected on all the others. In Windows, the MobileMe calendar shows up
in Outlook, and the contacts can be viewed in Outlook, the Windows Address
Book or Windows Contacts. On the Mac, the calendar and contacts appear in
the built-in iCal and Address Book programs. On the iPhone, MobileMe uses
the built-in Contacts and Calendar programs.
Bookmarks can be synchronized using either
the Mac or Windows versions of Apple's Safari Web browser, or Internet
Explorer 7 on Windows.
At the MobileMe Web site, using any
computer, you can send and receive email via a Web-mail program, and view
and edit your calendar and contacts. Changes made on the Web site instantly
show up on your computers and your iPhone, and vice versa. Also at the
MobileMe Web site, you can maintain a photo gallery and view your online
file storage.
But in my tests, using two Macs, two Dell
computers and two iPhones, I ran into problem after problem. One big issue
is that while changes made on the Web site or the iPhone are instantly
pushed to the computers, changes made on computers are only synced every 15
minutes, at best. Apple has admitted that this is a problem, and says it is
working on it.
But there's more. The Web site was
sluggish, and occasionally calendar entries wouldn't load at all. Sometimes,
you have to manually refresh the Web pages to see changes made on your
devices. And when I tried to open my Web-based file-storage page directly
from the MobileMe control panel on Windows, I got an error message on both
Dells.
My MobileMe calendar, which originated on
a Mac, didn't flow into the main Outlook calendar, but appeared as a
separate calendar in Outlook, which was visible only by changing settings.
My address-book groups on the Mac, which are simply distribution lists,
didn't show up as distribution lists in Outlook, but as separate address
books, and they also weren't immediately visible. Apple blames Outlook
quirks for these issues, but in my view, it should have overcome them.
Other problems abounded. On one occasion,
my synced contacts on the iPhone appeared as names only, without any
information. In general, synced contacts on the iPhone loaded slowly.
When my Apple Mail program used rules I
had set up to automatically file certain emails into local folders instead
of leaving them in the inbox, they simply disappeared from my MobileMe
account on the iPhone and the Web site. Avoiding this requires a tedious
editing of all your rules.
Twice, MobileMe was unable to sync my
bookmarks at all, and when it did, their order was scrambled. When I synced
contacts to my iPhone, my custom ringtones for particular contacts were lost
and had to be reselected.
Apple patiently explained each of my
problems, sometimes helping me with workarounds, sometimes claiming they
were rare, other times saying that it was working on fixes.
Continued in article
Question
What is the AlphaSmart Dana?
Why might you fall in love with Dana?
"The Workhorse," by Scott McLeMee, Inside Higher Ed, May 14, 2008 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/05/14/mclemee
Laptop computers have revolutionized the art of
procrastination. Combining the power of word processing with the convenience
of wireless access to the universe of material available online, they make
it easier than ever to shift from serious concentration to glassy-gazed
spacing out. It takes “just a second,” after all, to “look something up.”
Those bland phrases connote a world of barely concealed guilt (as when an
urban consumer chooses to buy something that “fell off the truck”). One
minute you decide to check the wording of a quotation from Montaigne, and
before you know it, you are on YouTube.
It happens.
The solution, of course, is self-discipline – in
roughly the sense that a cure for poverty is to get a lot of money. Saying
this hardly qualifies as good advice. An elementary quality of
self-discipline is the capacity to minimize the chances of distraction. And
for that, it can help to go (relatively) low-tech. One of the best secret
weapons in the battle against psychic entropy is the
AlphaSmart Dana, an ideal device for anyone who
wants to keep at hand a digital notebook that is just a notebook. No
frills, no bells and whistles, no distractions: nothing, in fact, but a tool
for turning thoughts into sentences.
The Dana is not really an alternative to having a
regular computer. There are lots of things it can’t do. But it’s helpful for
bolstering concentration in a crunch, as well as the perfect keyboard for
anyone who needs to take notes during a meeting, lecture, or conference. So
reports my spouse, who uses her Dana primarily for such occasions. (The only
downside might be that people keep asking to take a look at it: the design
is sufficiently distinct from the normal laptop to be conspicuous.)
The Dana is the latest version of a product
originally meant for use in elementary school classrooms – a cheap,
bare-bones, and durable machine consisting of just a keyboard and a small
screen. The changes introduced over the past few years suggest that,
somewhere along the way, the manufacturer discovered it had an adult
market.But the virtues of that earlier model are all preserved in the more
recent incarnation.
First, I’ll describe the generic features of the
AlphaSmart, found in both the kids’ version and the Dana. Then, we’ll
consider the changes introduced into the more recent design making it
especially useful for adults. Casual observation suggests that we grownup
AlphaSmart users are, so far, rather few in number. But we make up for our
numbers by a certain fanatical devotion — in spite of a few imperfections,
which I’ll note along the way.
The AlphaSmart, whatever the model, is
lightweight (about two pounds) and made chiefly of plastic; yet it
surprisingly rugged. It runs on a rechargeable battery. According to the
manufacturer, it can run for up to 25 hours of use on a single charge. I
haven’t kept track and cannot say if that figure is accurate. But certainly
it hasn’t been necessary to charge the battery more than once every week or
two. Compare that to the usual experience with laptops, which demand
rejuicing every few hours, at least.
If you leave it sitting idle for more than a few
minutes, the AlphaSmart turns itself off automatically. But there is no need
to keep hitting “save” frantically. Actually, it doesn’t even have a “save”
command. Instead, the AlphaSmart just stores whatever you type as you go.
Turning the power back on, you go right back to the draft as you left it.
There is a set of buttons along the top of the
keyboard marked F1 through F8. Each one opens a document. In other words,
you can create no more than eight documents at a time, each the equivalent
of about twelve single-spaced pages. You can send documents to a printer via
a plug in the machine – or, perhaps more sensibly, you can download them to
another computer using a chord. Unfortunately you have to send them one at a
time, and the process is rather slow, at least by contemporary standards of
instantaneous massive data transferal. (With the Dana model, it is possible
to “beam” documents via an infrared transmitter, but I haven’t used that
feature.)
A few years ago I bought the AlphaSmart 3000
(the basic model, designed for elementary school use) and found its
minimalism and its long battery life quite appealing, at least for a few
weeks. Then its deficiencies started to show. The screen was quite small;
you could see only three or four short lines of text at a time. And the
action on the keyboard was not ideal. You really had to punch each letter to
be sure it connected. No doubt this was not a problem for the kids
originally intended as its users. But a quicker and lighter touch would
sometimes leave me unable to read my own work, as if some sentences were in
an Eastern European language.
Both problems have been solved with the Dana model.
The keyboard is far more sensitive (no more passages of inadvertent
Bulgarianism) and the screen is much larger, holding between six and nine
lines of text, depending on the point size of the type you are using.
You can select the latter – along with options for
italics, bold text, margin justification, and so forth – via menus on
screen. They respond either to keyboard commands or the touch of a little
stylus that comes with the machine. (You keep it at hand in a groove along
he right side of the Dana.) This model also offers some of the other
familiar features of a word processor: spell-checking and a thesaurus, plus
the ability to get the word count for a given document.
All of which marks a great improvement over the
earlier version. The main problem that the Dana shares with the
elementary-school model is that the screen is not brightly lit. No doubt
that helps with the battery life. But in my experience, the lack of sharp
contrast makes staring at the text rather hard on the eyes, after a while.
In practice, it turns out to be an ideal “workhorse” machine for taking
notes and pounding out rough drafts, which can then be reworked on another
computer.
The Dana retails for $350 from the manufacturer,
but you can find one online for a fraction of that price. (The two machines
in our household cost around $100 each.) Two slots on the back allow you to
insert secure data (SD) cards, which increase the memory considerably. SD
cards are sold separately, costing between $20 and $60 each depending on
their capacity. I have not yet tried one out, but am sorely tempted – not
for the added memory so much as greater ease in moving documents from the
AlphaSmart to another machine.
Just for the record, it bears mentioning that
AlphaSmart has also introduced
a version of the Dana with wireless internet access
built in. But I want nothing to do with it, for that defeats the whole
point. Such embellishments are the Devil’s handiwork.
Gadgets
Notes on the Smart Pen
The
smart
pen that Wired Campus flagged back in May was
unveiled last week at a technology conference in Palm Springs, Calif. The
company behind it, LiveScribe, has been aggressively marketing the device to
college students with the slogan "Never miss a word." It's basically a
combination recording machine and camera. Users take notes while a minirecorder,
embedded in the pen, records whatever is being said. Later, to clarify the
written notes, the user can touch the pen to a specific passage and listen to a
recording of the instructor speaking those words. A tiny camera links what is
being written to what is being recorded. In a takeoff on television commercials
for pharmaceuticals, the smart-pen advertisement below features a student who
suffers from "restless mind syndrome." The pen is offered as a panacea.
Livescribe has set up a Facebook page to push the pen, and
offers to pay college students to promote the
device on their campuses. It's also advertised on the Web site
ThePalestra, where Andy Van Schaack, a senior
lecturer at Vanderbilt University, who is an adviser to LiveScribe, is seen
praising the pen. Will the pen, which sells for about $200, take off with
college students? Will it be used as a crutch for students who are too tired or
distracted to listen to their professors?
Andrea L. Foster, "Notes on the Smart Pen," Chronicle of Higher
Education, February 5, 2008 ---
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2719&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Bob Jensen's threads on tools and tricks of the trade in education technology
are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm
From the Scout Report on April 25, 2008
A-Z Free Video Converter 6.81 ---
http://www.cnn-video.com/download.html
A-Z Free Video Converter allows users to convert a
wide range of file formats (such as WMV, MPEG, and DIVX) to the popular MOV
formats (especially good for Quicktime players).
The converter can be helpful for a range of media projects, including
classroom presentations and the like. This particular version is compatible
with computers running Windows 95 and newer.
Related Jensen Links
Technology ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob4.htm#Technology
Streaming Media ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#StreamingMedia
You can also make these conversions in Camtasia Producer, but this software
is not free like the A-Z Video Converter software.
You can read about Camtasia at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm
New Wireless Mouse Technology
"Squeaky Wheels: Tracking Mobile Mice," by Katherine Boehret, The Wall
Street Journal, April 9, 2008; Page D1 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120768223569198837.html
This week I tested three entry-level mobile mice
designed for laptops, from Logitech, Microsoft and Kensington Computer
Products Group. These $30 mice include a USB receiver that plugs into a
laptop, allowing the mouse to work wirelessly. When not in use, this
receiver fits snugly beneath the mouse, turning its power off to save
battery as it snaps into place. These mice are also somewhat smaller than
regular mice so they can easily slip into a laptop bag.
Mobile mice are now more stylish than the
traditional desktop mice, and like laptops and digital cameras, come in
various shapes and colors. The mice I tested are available in pink, white,
red, blue, orange and gray. Next week, the Microsoft mouse I used will be
available in shades of pomegranate, aloe, dragon fruit (dark pink) and milk
chocolate; a khaki-colored shade called crème brûlée will follow in June.
I tried Logitech's $30 V220 Cordless Optical Mouse
in black, Microsoft's $30 Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 in aloe, and
Kensington's $35 Ci75m Wireless Notebook Mouse in orange. To gain some
perspective on high-end mobile mice, I also looked at two pricier options
from Logitech: the $50 V470 Cordless Laser Mouse with Bluetooth (instead of
a USB receiver) and the $70 VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse.
My vote for a favorite low-end mobile mouse had me
struggling between portability and comfort. But overall, I found that the
Logitech V220 offered the best combination of small size and usability. The
Microsoft mouse was also comfortable to use, but its slightly bulkier size
made it less portable, and it didn't feel as sturdy as the Logitech. While
the Kensington was the flattest and most portable, it wasn't as comfortable
to use as the Logitech or Microsoft mice.
To conserve battery, all three of these mice go
into low-power mode after 10 minutes of nonuse, but none of them turns off
completely. Battery indicators light up when juice is running low. According
to company estimates, the Microsoft mouse has a battery life of over six
months and the Logitech mouse has a battery life of up to six months. The
Kensington mouse's battery life was estimated to be three months. I didn't
use any of them long enough to prove the company claims.
These mice are compatible with Macs and PCs, and
are plug-and-play -- meaning you don't need to install any additional
software to make them work. I used each on laptops running Mac OS X and
Windows Vista without any problems. The Microsoft and Logitech mice also can
work with their own special software programs, but the extra features, such
as reassigning a mouse button to open an application, aren't really
necessary for the average user.
The $30 Logitech V220 fit comfortably in my hand,
with rubber grips on its sides and a generously sized, smooth-gliding rubber
scroll wheel that made it easy to use. This scroll wheel can be nudged to
the left or right for horizontal scrolling, a feature found on most of
Logitech's mice.
Unlike the Microsoft and Kensington mice, which
show flashing red sensor lights, the Logitech uses an invisible optic
sensor. This sounds cool, but because the mouse doesn't use any lights, it
can be left on accidentally. I did this a few times before remembering to
stow the USB receiver in the mouse to automatically turn off its power.
Of the three, the Logitech mouse was the only one
with a manual on/off switch -- so you can turn it off without snapping the
USB receiver into place in the mouse. This could save frequent travelers
from having to detach the USB receiver every time they want to turn off the
mouse, and could let people keep the receiver plugged into the laptop.
Kensington's $35 Ci75m was the flattest mouse by
far, making it a cinch to slip it into the outside pocket of my already full
laptop bag on a train trip to New York. And this mouse has a bonus feature:
It can work wirelessly or with a USB wire, which wraps up inside the mouse
and serves as a backup in case the mouse runs out of battery. I tested this
by removing the batteries and using only the USB wire, and it worked like a
charm.
I also liked the way the Kensington USB receiver
disappeared into the body of the mouse, while the Microsoft and Logitech
receivers protruded a bit when stowed, adding to the thickness of the mouse
when tucked into a laptop pocket.
But though this bright orange mouse received
approving feedback from passersby, it wasn't all that comfortable to use
after a while. Its flatness saved room in my bag, but didn't give my hand
much support. It also felt flimsier than the Logitech, and its small wheel
wasn't as satisfying to use.
I received early test units of Microsoft's $30
Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 in aloe, pomegranate and milk
chocolate.
This mouse has rubber sides for a better grip, like
the Logitech, and an arched shape for comfort. Its wheel is slightly smaller
than Logitech's, though its overall size was bigger and more like that of a
regular mouse -- not one designed specifically for mobile use. But even
though the Microsoft mouse was larger, it didn't feel as solid as
Logitech's; rather, it felt more like the thin Kensington. Its right and
left buttons felt less stable, and its wheel didn't roll as smoothly.
I did like Microsoft's nod to new colors, and the
aloe -- a cool hue of green -- was my favorite.
For people who don't mind spending a little extra
money on a mouse, the $50 V470 Cordless Laser uses Bluetooth, eliminating
the need for a USB receiver altogether. It took only a couple seconds to
pair this mouse to a MacBook with built-in Bluetooth, and it worked
smoothly. A manual on/off switch on this mouse's underside can help to
conserve battery.
The $70 Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser is sleek
with shiny black accents and a silver-edged wheel. The "Nano" in this
mouse's name refers to its ultra tiny USB receiver, which sticks out only
about a quarter of an inch when plugged in, so it can be left in a laptop at
all times for ease-of-use. If needed, this receiver can be hidden away in
the cavity of the mouse, under a snap-on lid. I used the VX Nano to glide
around Web pages and Word documents with buttery smoothness.
No matter what mouse you choose to use with your
laptop, most will be considerably more comfortable than touch pads and
trackpoints, especially while working on long, mouse-intensive projects. But
of the three lower-end mobile mice, the Logitech V220 Cordless Optical Mouse
delivers the best combination of comfort and transportability.
When Cell Phones Won't Work There's Now an Inexpensive Way to Signal
Emergency Time and Location
"Phoning Home Without a Phone: Simple Device Alerts Emergency Contacts
From Remote Areas," by Katherine Boehret, The Wall Street Journal,
January 30, 2008; Page D5 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120165547095927163.html
On a chilly day, most folks find it tough to open
the front door to retrieve the newspaper -- much less climb a 15,000-foot
mountain. But plenty of people court danger by rappelling down canyons and
camping in remote woodlands. This week, I tested a device that will give
thrill seekers a little extra insurance: It lets the folks back home track
their progress, and learn when they're OK or when they're in trouble.
When activated, the $170 SPOT Satellite Messenger
from SPOT Inc., the Milpitas, Calif., unit of Globalstar Inc., emits a
signal to GPS satellites, which notify SPOT's messaging service. The service
then sends a message to friends, family or emergency rescue teams about your
current status. Because it uses GPS technology, the SPOT will work even when
you're far from cellphone signal range and anywhere in the world.
I tested SPOT in my Washington, D.C., neighborhood
(city parks still count as outdoorsy) and on a trip across the California
desert and mountains on the way to a conference -- though I was scaling
mountains in an air-conditioned SUV rather than in a rock-climbing harness.
In my tests, SPOT worked without a problem.
Notifications from the device were delivered to my friends via email and
text message and included my current latitude and longitude. The service
also sent along canned messages that I set up in advance on the company's
Web site at www.findmespot.com and hyperlinks to Google Maps that showed my
location.
SPOT charges a $100 annual service fee, which
includes an unlimited number of messages that can be sent out from your
device using three buttons: OK/Check, Help and 911. An additional $50 per
year tracking service called SPOTcasting follows and marks your exact
location every 10 minutes for 24 hours each time it's initiated.
This simple and straightforward device could really
help in a dangerous situation. And the company takes its job seriously: A
steely message on the SPOT packaging reads, "Opening this box is the first
step in making sure you don't come home in one." But SPOT could also save
the day in less-adventurous situations, such as when your car dies and
you're out of cellphone range.
However, SPOT isn't perfect. While its three
message-sending buttons make it easy to use, they also limit the types of
messages it can send. There's no keyboard, so messages must be brief and set
up in advance on the Web site. And the device only sends messages and can't
receive them. Your friends and family have no way of getting back in touch
with you on SPOT should you send a Help message from beyond cellphone range.
SPOT is a bright orange device with roughly the
same surface measurement as a BlackBerry, though it's considerably thicker.
Its durable casing makes it waterproof and floatable, along with working in
extremes like -40 degrees Fahrenheit and up to 21,000 feet above sea level.
It runs on two AA lithium batteries, which last for different amounts of
time according to the type of message being sent.
Setting up SPOT took only a few minutes on the Web
site. A default or personalized message can be set up to go out with
OK/Check and Help notifications, and email addresses and cellphone numbers
(for SMS text messages) can be entered online as the destinations for these
messages. Every message includes the user's current location in terms of
latitude and longitude, along with a hyperlink to access that location via
Google Maps.
Continued in article
Two Cell Phones With Keyboards
I looked at two of the latest handsets in this
category: the
LG VX9800 from Verizon
Wireless and
Samsung D307 from
Cingular Wireless. For the LG phone, Verizon offers a choice between $400
with a one-year contract and $300 with a two-year contract. Cingular sells the
Samsung for $250 with a two-year service contract. Of the two phones, I
like the LG better despite its higher price: The keyboard is much easier to use
than Samsung's, and the phone offers a few extras, including a 1.3-megapixel
camera and a media card slot.
Grace Aquino, "Two Sleek Cell Phones With Handy Data Entry:
Sending text messages and entering contacts in your phone's address book can be
a whole lot easier with a keyboard-equipped handset," PC World via The
Washington Post, November 28, 2005 ---
http://snipurl.com/CellKeyboard
Question
How do multi-touch screens differ from traditional touch screens like you find
on an ATM machine?
But multitouch interfaces are potentially much more
versatile. They allow you to use your fingers to manipulate virtual objects on a
screen as if they were real, sort of the way Tom Cruise's character did in the
2002 Steven Spielberg science-fiction film, "Minority Report." For example,
Microsoft's Surface allows users to rearrange groups of digital photos by just
dragging them around on the table top as if they were actual paper prints.
Unlike the touch screens on, say, ATMs, multitouch devices are able to
distinguish between the press of a single finger and the press of multiple
fingers, and to interpret the motions or gestures you make. They take different
actions depending on how many fingers they detect and which gestures a user
performs. On Apple's MacBook Air, the touchpad still allows you to use one
finger to move the cursor and click like a mouse can. But, optionally, it can do
much more using multitouch gestures. You can rotate photos by just touching two
fingers to the touchpad and moving the images on the screen as you wish. You can
quickly move back and forth through a series of Web pages or photos by
"swiping," or placing three fingers on the touchpad and moving them rapidly
sideways. And you can shrink or expand a photo, or zoom in and out on a Web
page, by pinching the image.
Walter S. Mossberg, "Multitouch Interface Is Starting to Spread Among New
Devices," The Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2008; Page B1 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120174029197330447.html
From Mossberg's Mailbox
"How to Split Up MP3 Files," The Wall Street Journal, July 6,
2006; Page B4 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/mossberg_mailbox.html
Q: I'm downloading some
lectures in MP3 format and then transferring each to an audio CD to listen
to while driving. An occasional lecture in the series is too large to
transfer to CD. Is there a program that will divide these into two tracks so
that they can be written to separate CDs?
A: Yes, there are multiple
little utility programs that can split (or join) MP3 files. I haven't tested
any of them, so I can't recommend one. But you can find them by going to
www.download.com and typing in "mp3 splitter."
The Duo introduce that wonderful time-shifting gadget, the digital video
recorder ---
http://www.pcworld.com/digitalduo/video/0,segid,200,00.asp
Also see "Meet the DVR," The Washington Post, December 31, 2005
---
http://snipurl.com/DuoDVR
"Videotape to DVD, Made Easy," by David Pogue, The New York
Times, January 27, 2005 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/27/technology/circuits/27stat.html?oref=login
Whoever said "technology marches on" must
have been kidding. Technology doesn't march; it sprints, dashes and zooms.
That relentless pace renders our storage media
obsolete with appalling speed:5¼-inch floppies, Zip disks or whatever. And
with the debut of each new storage format, millions of important files,
photos, music and video have to be rescued from the last one.
At the moment, the most urgent conversion concerns
videotape, whose signal begins to deteriorate in as little as 15 years.
Rescuing tapes by copying them to fresh ones isn't an option, because you lose
half the picture quality with each generation. You could play them into a
computer for editing and DVD burning, but that's a months-long project. You
could pay a company to transfer them to DVD, if you can stomach the cost and
the possibility that something might happen to your precious tapes in the
mail.
There is, fortunately, a safe, automated and
relatively inexpensive solution to this problem: the combo VHS-DVD recorder.
It looks like a VCR, but it can play or record both VHS tapes and blank DVD
discs, and copy from one to the other, in either direction. Pressing a couple
of buttons begins the process of copying a VHS tape to a DVD, with very little
quality loss. (You can't duplicate copy-protected tapes or DVD's, of course;
only tapes and discs you've recorded yourself.)
And if your movies are on some other format, like
8-millimeter cassettes, you can plug the old camcorder into the back of this
machine, hit Play, and walk away as the video is transferred to a DVD.
(Of course, now you have to worry about the longevity
of recordable DVD's. Fortunately, a DVD's movie files are stored as digital
signals, not analog, so you won't lose any quality when you copy them onto
whatever video format is popular in 2025. Video contact lenses, perhaps?)
As a bonus, a combo VCR-DVD player-recorder can
eliminate one machine stacked under the TV, one remote control and, in most
cases, one set of cables to your TV. (None of this makes it simple, however.
All of these machines are far more complex than, say, a stand-alone DVD
player.)
I sampled four of these combo boxes: the Panasonic
DMR-E75V, the RCA DRC8300N, GoVideo's VR2940, and the JVC DR-MV1S. (Who makes
up these model names, anyway - drunken Scrabble players?) All are available
online for $285 to $350. As it turns out, shopping for a combo recorder is an
exercise in compromise. Here are some of the trade-offs you have to look
forward to.
JACKS Each recorder has a dazzling array of jacks on
the front and back panels, for ease in connecting to your other
home-entertainment gear. For example, each has so-called component video
outputs for a superior picture on recent TV sets. JVC and GoVideo even
included a front-panel FireWire input, which lets you dump footage from a
digital camcorder directly onto a DVD.
Unfortunately, the GoVideo deck lacks an S-video
input, a high-quality connection to many camcorder models. And a note to
videophiles: The RCA, JVC and GoVideo decks can play both VCR and DVD signals
through the same set of component video cables, so you don't have to switch TV
inputs to get the best quality. DISC FORMAT Thanks to a foolhardy war between
electronics companies, there are two incompatible formats for blank DVD's,
confusingly called DVD-R and DVD+R. Recorded discs of either type will play in
most recent DVD players, but you have to be careful to buy the right kind of
blanks for your recorder, and many stores carry only one type.
The RCA and GoVideo decks require DVD+R (and their
more expensive, erase-and-reuse variant, DVD+RW). The Panasonic and JVC
players take DVD-R discs (and the erasable DVD-RW). A disc of either format
must be "finalized" (a 2- to 15-minute electronic shrink-wrapping)
before it will play in other DVD players.
As a bonus, the Panasonic and JVC models also accept
a third format called DVD-RAM, which doesn't play in most everyday DVD
players. But if you just leave it in your recorder, you can use it pretty much
like a hard drive, adding and deleting recordings at will, slicing out
commercials, watching the beginning of a show whose ending is still being
recorded, and so on.
Bob Jensen's threads on gadgets are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob4.htm#Technology
Recall that David Pogue is also the author of a must-have book for
frustrated Windows users who at last make a switch to a Mac system. I
wrote the following module in the January 18 edition of New Bookmarks:
Tired of Computer Viruses, Spyware,
and all the Other Microsoft Diseases?
Switch to a Mac
If you switch to a Mac, a must
book is Mac OS X: The Missing Manual by David Pogue http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596000820/002-3743809-1628824?v=glance
This
book explains how to translate what you liked to do in Windows into how to do
the same things on a Mac.
Question
How can you turn your PC into HD TV?
Answer
"HD PC: Cheaper Than High-Def TV," Wired News, September 4,
2004 --- http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64850,00.html?tw=newsletter_topstories_html
High-definition television can show the sweat beading
on an athlete's brow, but the cost of all the necessary electronic equipment
can get a shopper's own pulse racing.
Instead of dropping more than $1,000 for a new TV,
set-top box and antenna to bring in the signals that dramatically improve TV
picture quality, look not in the living room, but in the home office. A $200
upgrade can turn a personal computer into a "starter"
high-definition television.
The new product from ATI Technologies puts
high-definition versions of Law and Order, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and
other hit TV shows within the budgets of far more households.
Indeed, the Markham, Ontario, company bills its HDTV
Wonder as "the home's first HDTV device," able not only to show
HD-video, but also to record scheduled programs onto a hard drive. Still, some
experts say it may be better to start saving for the real thing.
"It's a tricycle with training wheels,"
said Gartner media analyst Laura Behrens. With the possible exception of
college students and people living in cramped apartments, few households have
any interest in watching television on a computer monitor, Behrens said.
Moreover, a TV system designed for high-definition broadcasts would offer
superior picture quality.
The ATI system uses the home PC's computing
horsepower to process over-the-air high-definition signals and the monitor's
high resolution to display them in vivid color. Although other cards have been
available, ATI's offering puts nearly everything one needs into a single box
and at a $200 price that reviewers say sets a new low bar.
The HDTV Wonder includes a remote control designed
for use on a PC and an antenna to pick up the digital signals. By contrast,
the MyHD from Korea's Macro Image Technology and the WinTV-HD from Hauppauge
Computer Works cost $100 more and do not come with an antenna.
ATI says there are 1,129 digital television stations
-- not all of them in high-definition -- sent over the airwaves in the United
States, with at least one of those signals reaching almost every household.
All of the major networks are broadcasting much of
their entire prime-time schedule in high-definition, Behrens said. On CBS, for
instance, viewers can watch the Republican National Convention in all of its
high-definition pomp or tune into an ultra-clear performance by Paulina Rubio
on the Latin Grammy Awards in high-definition, for free. Many cable and
satellite TV companies also offer additional HD programming, but at a monthly
fee. Aside from HDTV, the ATI card can display regular cable television and
record shows on hard drives. Consumer reaction to the product has been mixed.
A review in PC World magazine said the device "severely taxed" a
top-of-the-line computer that was decked out with a Pentium 4 microprocessor
and a gigabyte of memory.
Another reviewer, on ExtremeTech, listed a 10-point
wish list for the device -- including a simpler remote control and
easier-to-use software -- but said prime-time TV and sports programming was
"glorious to watch."
Loyd Case, ExtremeTech's technical director, said
ATI's card and others like it may best serve the technologically savvy
because, but may be too challenging for the novice user. The real advantage of
choosing a PC card is the ability to turn a computer into a "media
hub" for the home, holding music, pictures, movies, and television
broadcasts, Case said.
"I think it's always going to be more of an
enthusiast type of market," he said.
PC World Videos on New Products ---
http://www.pcworld.com/video.html
The Duo introduce that wonderful time-shifting gadget, the
digital video recorder ---
http://www.pcworld.com/digitalduo/video/0,segid,200,00.asp
Also see "Meet the DVR," The Washington Post, December 31, 2005
--- http://snipurl.com/DuoDVR
A Talking Pen That Computes and Checks Spelling
"New Computer Pen Reads
Handwriting And Can Talk Back," by Stephanie Kang, The Wall Street
Journal, January 12, 2005, Page B1 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110549457385323664,00.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
"Portable Media
Center Is the Wrong Choice For Nontechie Users," by Walter Mossberg,
The
Wall Street Journal, December 2, 2004; Page B1 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,personal_technology,00.html
The holidays may mean food and decorating to some, but for the geek crowd,
they're just another excuse to buy gadgets. Here's a collection of cool ones on
my Christmas wish list.
"Gifts to Sate Your Technolust," by Xeni Jardin, Wired News,
December 2, 2004 ---
http://www.wired.com/news/holidays/0,1882,65880,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2
For geeks, the most telling signs of seasonal reality
have nothing to do with a crisp chill in the smog, the scent of tofurkey
roasting in the microwave or that scraping sound a super-sized fir makes when
you're cramming it through the front door of your nano-apartment.
No. The sure sign it's time to move out of holiday
denial and into holiday acceptance is the sight of all those fresh gadgets
jamming shelves at the mall.
TrafficGauge
-- Sometimes, simplicity is what makes a tech tool great, and the
TrafficGauge
handheld freeway map is proof positive. Its flat, rectangular display looks
like a PDA, but instead shows only a fixed map of local freeways. The display
dynamically fills with solid or blinking lines to indicate slow or stop-and-go
road conditions. [Elaboration not quoted here]
DVX-Pod
-- Yes, the name includes a familiar suffix, and the curvilinear white frame
does look a little Apple-y. But the DVX-Pod has little in common with the rest
of the current crop of handheld entertainment devices. And with a formidable
array of features, this personal media player may be well-positioned to
compete with Microsoft's portable offerings. [Elaboration not quoted
here]
Sennheiser headphones
-- Nothing says, "Go away, I'm watching a Kurosawa epic on my
handheld" like an intimidating pair of noise-canceling headphones, a
mandatory add-on for any personal media player purchase. Sennheiser offers an
array of admirably equipped models, including our fave, the HD212Pro. Tight
treble, buttery bass and helpful elimination of the rest of the world around
you. [Elaboration not quoted here]
Apple, Apple, everywhere -- No list
of gadget gift ideas would be complete without mention of the myriad iPod
variants and accessories out this season. In addition to the now-ubiquitous
mini, Apple Computer's holiday basket includes a U2-branded
black-and-red
edition iPod that features chrome-etched autographs and holds 5,000 songs,
and the iPod photo
edition, which stores and displays up to 25,000 pics on a color screen (music
playback capabilities also included, natch.) If the person on your list is
already packin' a pod, consider something from the long list of accessories --
knit "iPod socks," cute little leather cases that clip on to belts
or purses, and helper devices like the Bose SoundDock Digital Music System.
Dock your iPod into the device, and voilà: an instant digital stereo
system. [Elaboration not quoted here]
Everquest Design space history bags
-- What better to wrap your digital gewgaws in than a bag that's been floating
around in space for a year? Everquest makes laptop bags, messenger packs and
other handy carriers using fabric recycled from landing parachutes used on
space missions. Editions from the International Space Station and the Russian
Soyuz
craft are available now, and a space shuttle line is coming soon. Bags are
well-constructed, include plenty of pockets, and hold up well with hard use.
If the fabric's good enough for cosmonauts, it's strong enough to carry your
earthbound electronic burdens. [Elaboration
not quoted here]
PHPQuickGallery ---
http://www.csh.rit.edu/~benjamin/programs/program.php?program=PHPQuickGallery
PHPQuickGallery
is the solution for those who want to have a simple, easy to manage web
gallery. Adding new photos or galleries is as simple as creating directories
and copying in the files (You could keep them there, but you do have backups
of your photos right?). PHPQuickGallery doesn't require the user to add the
photos to a database, go through some web form, or have a script run to create
new web pages. PHPQuickGallery will automatically detect and display anything
new that is added.
"Since Keeping Photos In Shoeboxes Is Passé, Try Making
Slideshows," by Thomas E. Weber, The Wall
Street Journal, August 12, 2004, Page B1 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,personal_technology,00.html
Recently I tested nine programs capable
of turning snapshots into video presentations. I found that some work
especially well for beginners -- or anyone who wants to whip up a slideshow
without investing a lot of time.
The basic steps for creating a
slideshow are pretty much the same regardless of which program you use. You
start by selecting a group of digital photos and placing them in the order in
which you want them to appear. (A rule of thumb says to show each photo for
about five seconds, so 30 photos will give you a slideshow 2½ minutes long.)
Next, if you like, you can add a soundtrack -- most programs will incorporate
any MP3 file you want. Finally, you burn the slideshow onto a DVD.
Some slideshow programs are included as
part of broader video-editing packages designed to produce DVDs from home
movies shot with a camcorder. Others, which cater mainly to still-image
photographers, focus primarily on slideshows. Among the dedicated slideshow
programs, I prefer ArcSoft's DVD SlideShow ($50,
www.arcsoft.com
), which allowed me to put together a polished presentation in about 30
minutes.
DVD SlideShow's strength is its menus,
which walk you through the process in clear, simple steps while still
providing access to advanced options -- notably, "pan and zoom"
tools that add motion to still images by zooming in on a portion of the image
or moving it around the screen. Another worthwhile feature: the ability to
archive the original digital-photo files on the DVD along with the slideshow.
That makes each DVD a valuable backup copy of your images.
One downside to ArcSoft's program is
its price. Considering that good video-editing packages don't cost a lot more,
some consumers may not want to pay this much solely for slideshow production.
And while DVD SlideShow's features help justify the price, they could go
further. The program allows you to lighten or darken individual photos, for
example, but it doesn't include a fix for redeye -- one of the most common
snapshot problems.
If you plan on working with home videos
as well as slideshows, it makes more sense to get a video-editing package. The
good news here is that one of the most user-friendly editing programs includes
a straightforward slideshow maker. It's called MyDVD 5.3 Deluxe from Sonic
Solutions ($70, www.sonic.com).
Like DVD SlideShow, MyDVD has users
follow a simple process, and the program will archive the original photos onto
the DVD. However, MyDVD doesn't include pan-and-zoom features, and you'll need
to lighten or darken poorly exposed images and fix red eye using another
program, such as Adobe's Photoshop Elements, before importing them into MyDVD.
Those using an Apple computer won't
need to agonize over which slideshow program to choose. Apple's excellent
iLife package ($49; included with new Macs) is all they'll need. Users can
construct slideshows in the package's easy-to-use iDVD program or move
slideshows from iPhoto into iDVD for burning onto a disc. For more effects,
the iMovie video-editing software can add panning and zooming motion.
No matter which software you try, there
are tricks you can use to make better slideshows. The most important: When in
doubt, go with an understated approach. Most programs offer a variety of
exotic "transitions" that make the next photo in the sequence appear
to explode out of the prior image or spin around the screen. Basic dissolve or
fade-in/fade-out transitions show off photos best.
Similarly, pan-and-zoom tools -- dubbed
"Ken Burns effects" by Apple because they evoke the documentary
filmmaker's style -- can leave your audience dizzy unless applied judiciously.
(Windows users who get serious about panning and zooming eventually may want
to consider a $199 program called Imaginate from Canopus that gives you
supreme control over these effects.)
One last tip: Keep the slideshow format
in mind when you take pictures. Snap some images that help recall the details
-- the sign outside a restaurant, for instance. They may not be worth
printing, but they can help tell the story.
More in the article.
"On the Road Again," The Wall Street Journal, July 26, 2004
---
http://online.wsj.com/page/0,,2_1097,00.html?mod=home_in_depth_reports
About 40% of workers now travel for business, and
that figure will rise to two-thirds by the end of 2006, by some estimates. And
as the roster of road warriors grows, so does the demand for new gadgets to
keep business running smoothly. Here are 10 technologies that companies are
using to keep their mobile workers connected and productive.
Mac users can create their own Internet radio stations
Nicecast 1.0 ---
http://www.rogueamoeba.com/nicecast/
Top Digital Cameras ---
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,113291,00.asp
What you need to know before buying a digital camera (probably more than
you want to know)
When can we stop using the term "digital cameras"
and just call these things "cameras"? They began outselling film-based cameras
in 2003, and by the end of this year over half of U.S. households will own a
digital model, according to the Photo Marketing Association International. But
their mass-market status doesn't change the fact that digital cameras remain
computers with lenses, and they require some of the same careful shopping --
from contemplating puzzling measurements to choosing among incompatible formats.
Rob Pegoraro, "Be Camera-Ready When You Shop," The Washington Post,
August 21, 2005 ---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082000187.html?referrer=email
Set up free conference calls at
http://www.freeconference.com/
Also see
http://www.yackpack.com/uc/
Low Cost Conference Calls ---
http://www.ecom-universe.net/mortgage/conf/
"You Can Merge MP3 Tracks To Avoid Hearing Gaps in Music," by Walt
Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2003 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106323053792236900,00.html?mod=gadgets%5Fprimary%5Fhs%5Flt
There's no other major item most of us own that is as
confusing, unpredictable and unreliable as our personal computers. Everybody
has questions about them, and we aim to help.
Here are a few questions about computers I've
received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and
restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained
questions about listening to music on an iPod, Wi-Fi interference, and
protecting your computer from viruses.
Q: Apple's iPod plays songs with a slight pause
between the tracks. What this means is that, on an album such as the Beatles'
"Sgt. Pepper," certain songs don't play with seamlessly mixed segues
as originally released, but instead with annoying gaps in the flow of the
music. Is there any way to fix this?
A: There is no setting on the iPod, or on any other
player I know of, to eliminate the gap between tracks. But it's possible to
get rid of the gaps by merging, or "joining," MP3 tracks on the
computer before transferring them to portable players. This procedure turns
two or more tracks into one, either during the process of converting songs
from a CD, or afterward.
Apple has added a feature to its iTunes music
program, free of charge on all Macs, that allows you to join CD tracks during
the conversion process. When you insert a CD to be converted into MP3 files,
you just select two or more tracks and then go to the Advanced menu and select
"Join Tracks." The program will draw a link between the names of the
tracks, and will then merge them into a single MP3 file.
There are a number of programs for Windows that do
something similar. One is a $20 shareware program called "MP3 Splitter
& Joiner," from EZ Softmagic Inc., at
www.ezsoftmagic.com
. Another is "Twins File Merger," from Twins Software Online, a $15
shareware program found at
www.twins-software.com
. Both programs work on MP3 files that already are on your hard disk. The
Twins Software Inc. program also can merge other types of files, including
video clips, text files and Word files.
Continued in the article.
Personal technology reviews by Walter Mossberg ---
http://ptech.wsj.com/
Bob Jensen's technology bookmarks ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob.htm
"H-P Has an Easy Way to Let You Convert Old Videos Into DVDs," by
Walt Mossbert, The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2003 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB10614140399004700,00.html?mod=Personal+Technology
Using a computer to transfer old videos onto DVDs
should be simple, but it's a hassle. Older camcorders and VCRs are analog
devices and can't translate the contents of a video into the digital format
computers understand. You need an extra gadget called an analog-to-digital
converter to put between the camcorder or VCR, and the computer.
A number of converter products are on the market. But
they are often complicated or unreliable. I recently tested three of them that
worked poorly, or not at all. Some new digital camcorders can act as
converters, but they are expensive and tricky to use in this way. And you
still need a DVD recorder, something most PCs lack, to actually create the
discs and finish the job.
Now, Hewlett-Packard is attacking the problem with a
gadget called the DVD Movie Writer dc3000. It's an external accessory for
Windows computers that combines, in one integrated box, an analog-to-digital
converter and a DVD recorder. It will be sold late next month at $399.
H-P promises that the DVD Movie Writer will allow
users to convert old videos from their camcorder or VCR tapes to DVDs in just
a few simple steps. In my tests, I found the claim to be true.
But there is one huge caveat: Microsoft's Windows
Messenger, an unrelated product that comes with every copy of the Windows XP
operating system, interferes with the video transfer and must be disabled for
the DVD Movie Writer to work correctly. H-P says there is a new patch for
Windows that fixes the problem, and that the patch will be included in the
installation software for the product. If the fix really works, the company
will have a winner on its hands.
Continued in the Article
Personal technology reviews by Walter Mossberg ---
http://ptech.wsj.com/
Online Magazine (for Information Professionals) ---
http://www.onlineinc.com/onlinemag/index.html
ONLINE is written for Information Professionals and
provides articles, product reviews, case studies, evaluation, and informed
opinion about selecting, using, and managing electronic information products,
plus industry and professional information about online database systems,
CD-ROM, and the Internet. This site contains selected full-text articles and
news from each issue of the magazine. Direct letters to the editor to Marydee
Ojala ( Marydee@xmission.com ). If
you are interested in writing for ONLINE, please see the Authors' Guidelines.
Technology and Multimedia
Hello, Professor Jensen.
I came across your web pages with the listings of the many other useful web
pages.
I am writing to ask if you could add PhoeniX Technologies Incorporated (PTI)
to this list. Our Visualeyez™ suite of products is an ideal candidate for
3D, real-time, Virtual Reality and animation applications. Of particular
significance to virtual environment projects is its flawless marker ID
tracking--virtually eliminating marker swapping problems and the associated
requirement to clean up data. An appropriate category for our listing would
probably be "Technology/Multimedia". ---
http://www.ptiphoenix.com/VZfeatures.html
If a link to our site could be added to your page, it would be greatly
appreciated.
Best Regards,
David Binner PhoeniX Technologies Incorporated 3D Motion Capture System
Real Time, ALL THE TIME
4302 Norfolk St. Burnaby, B.C. V5G 4J9 Canada Tel: 604 - 321 - 3238 Fax:
604 - 321 - 3286
Audio Searching for Sounds --- See
Audio Searching
DVD FAQs ---
http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html
TiVo (pronounced TeeVo)= digital video recorder (DVR) mostly used to
capture television shows for replay later on according to an annual fee that
downloads television schedules making it easier to choose what and when to
record. History of this device and its controversies are summarized at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TiVo
“Tapping Your TiVo's Hidden Talents,” by Katherine Boehret, The Wall
Street Journal, March 5, 2008, Page D8 ---
Click Here
Blu-Ray versus DVD
Blui-ray Disc ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc
How Blu-ray Discs Work ---
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/blu-ray.htm
"At last, Blu-ray poised to change the big picture," by Tom Shales,
The Washington Post, December 8, 2009 ---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/07/AR2009120703811.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter
How to Buy a DVD Recorder ---
Click Here
Older Articles
Top Rewritable DVD Drives ---
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,113276,00.asp
Burn TV on DVD
Does your aging VCR, with its clunky analog tapes and
limited capabilities, feel antiquated? Maybe it's time to switch to a slim DVD
recorder. Today's models offer better quality and larger recording capacity than
ye olde VCR--plus on-screen programming guides, and built-in hard drives that
hold hundreds of hours of video. The newest DVD recorders far outshine last
year's relatively primitive models--making this a great time to jump in. They're
cheaper, too: A year ago, such recorders were priced for the television
elite--up to $1000 for one with a 160GB hard drive--but today various models are
within reach of ordinary TV watchers. A basic recorder (like CyberHome's
DVR1600) sells for less than $100; a model with an 80GB hard drive (for example,
the Lite-On LVW-5045) costs less than $300; and a deluxe 250GB model (such as
the Toshiba RD-XS54) runs about $700.
Richard Baguley, "Burn TV on DVD: The latest DVD recorders have hard
drives, program guides, and lower prices. If you love TV, one of these ten
models may be right for you," The Washington Post, November 30, 2005 ---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/29/AR2005112901188.html?referrer=email
Blu-ray set to be DVD standard after Toshiba white flag: Alas most
of us will need new DVD players (probably new computers)
Sony's Blu-ray looks set to become the standard for
high-definition DVDs after Toshiba signalled Monday that it may give up in a
long-running format battle, to the relief of investors. Toshiba Corp. is
reviewing its HD DVD business and "a complete withdrawal is one of the options
it is considering," an industry source told AFP on condition of anonymity. Blu-ray
and HD DVD -- which are incompatible -- can provide cinematic-quality images and
multimedia features but the players come at a much steeper price than
current-generation DVDs. The demise of HD DVD could spur sales of
next-generation DVD players among consumers, who have been reluctant to gamble
on one of the formats, analysts said, although Blu-ray was already far ahead in
sales, particularly in Japan. Blu-ray can store more data than HD DVD but was
initially seen as more expensive to make. Nonetheless, a growing number of
Hollywood studios and retailers have decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray. US
giant Wal-Mart gave a decisive boost to Blu-ray last week when it said it would
stop selling HD DVDs.
PhysOrg, February 18, 2008 ---
http://physorg.com/news122541604.html
Jensen Comment
The question for you is whether you television sets and computers can play Blu-ray
disks?
For example, Dell and HP strongly supports the move to Blu-ray, but we have to
expect this is partly due to Dell and HP users who will now buy new computers.
Dell now takes orders for a Blu-ray laptop ---
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/12/dell_touts_blu-ray_laptop/
Neflix enthusiasts
like me will have to enable their accounts to get Blue-ray DVD movies ---
http://www.netflix.com/MediaSelection?lnkctr=gnHdMedia
February 19, 2008 reply from David Albrecht
[albrecht@PROFALBRECHT.COM]
I'm pretty ignorant here.
(1) Will Blue Ray work with any HD TV?
(2) When standard DVDs are no longer produced, will the Blu-Ray DVDs work
on the regular DVD player on my laptop?
(3) If the answer to (2) is no, then will it work to pop out my old DVD
drive from my computer and purchase/install a new Blu-Ray drive, or will the
lack of HD on my computer screen (machine is 15 months old) destine it to
the junk heap.
(4) Is all the bother really worth it? I mean, I watch DVD movies on my
laptop, and I'm not seeing HD at all. Everything seems fine. In fact, all
of this is better than anything I ever had before.
(5) I pick up my DVD movies at the Walmart $5 bargain bin, and at pawn
shops. How long until I can start picking up blu-ray DVDs for the same
prices at the same places?
(6) Will getting HD improve my BMI?
David Albrecht
LD in Ohio
February 19, 2008 reply from Bob Jensen
What pretty
well sealed the deal for Sony’s Blu-Ray was when Wal-Mart adopted this
standard worldwide for movie disks and players.
I don’t have
all the answers to your questions David, but the two technologies are not
compatible. On our computers most of us have CD drives, older-style DVD
drives, or in on occasion Toshiba’s standard HD-DVD drives. The CD disks and
older-style DVD data disks are cheap and will probably be around for quite a
while for data file recording and reading. The HD-DVD recorders and players
will go the way of
Betamax when the VCR
standard beat out Betamax. Original DVD drives would not play HD-DVD or Blu-Ray
movie disks. However, HD-DVD players could playback older-style DVD disks
that you may have recorded on your computer or purchased from vendors of
data and software.
HD-DVD
drives will not play Blu-Ray DVD disks that will become the new equivalent
of the VCR back when we rented movies on VCR cartridges and recorded
television programs on VCR recorders. Older style DVD drives that are on
many computers will not play Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disks.
You can get
answers from the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-Ray
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD-DVD
Technical
---
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/hd-dvd3.htm
The bottom
line is that we will have to buy Blu-Ray drives for our television sets
rather quickly. Folks who purchased archives of Betamax and HD-DVD movies
will be out of luck just like those of us with boxes full of 8-Track music
cartridges are out of luck. You will soon have to purchase a Blu-Ray player
to watch DVD movies. You will also be buying Blu-Ray recorders to record
television shows for your personal use.
Colleges
will have to spend a lot of money putting Blu-Ray technology in electronic
classrooms and labs. Even more costly will be getting Blu-Ray technology on
faculty and staff computers. This will take time. It will be possible to
replace the DVD drives without replacing the computers, but my guess is that
many colleges will wait until faculty/staff members are due for new computer
upgrades. In the meantime you will be able to buy blank CD and older-style
DVD disks for some time at places like Staples. HD-DVD blanks will disappear
much more quickly.
Bob Jensen
February 19, 2008
reply from Mac Wright [Mac.Wright@VU.EDU.AU]
So today Toshiba has
thrown in the towel. But what is next? from the time Sony threw in the
Betamax towel until Video CDs was (I estimate) about 15 years. then DVDs
arrived, then High speed internet, now Blue ray, In the end it is up to the
market (probably on the Asian Continent and Indian Sub Continent) to decide
how they will take their dose of movies, and with what new technology it
will be delivered (and there are very few Wal -Mart stores out there!).
Kind regards,
Mac Wright
Co-ordinator Aviation Program
Victoria University
Melbourne Australia
February 19, 2008
reply from Bob Jensen
Hi Mac,
Interestingly, Barry Rice and I had a somewhat similar debate when Barry
first started the AECM. Barry argued that the CD had no future because other
portable hard drives were better ways of storing data. He was correct only
to a point especially with respect to overwriting files (no CD-RW at the time
of this debate). Portable hard drive cartridges in those days cost about
$100 and stored roughly the same amount of data as a CD. Some types of data
were difficult to burn on CDs in those days. Also remember that there was no
flash memory in those days such that hard drive cartridges relied on
mechanical readers prone to breakdowns.
You’ve got
to remember that in mid-1980s it was much more difficult to download data on
the Internet and hard drive capacity on a PC was less than 1 Gb such that
storage was nowhere near as cheap as it is today.
My
counterpoint to Barry was that we could buy a blank CD for about $3 in those
days as compared to comparable storage costing $100 on portable hard drives
such as those Iomega cartridges that were subject to high failure rates
relative to the less expensive CD disks. Certainly my old CD stored files
are still around today whereas all my Omega cartridges and drives are kaput.
In any case,
I think the Blu-Ray DVD disks will be around for at least a decade (no
computing hardware technology lasts forever). Reasons include:
- You don't have to pay for an
expensive monthly broadband connection to rent or buy a DVD disk.
- Hollywood
studios are embracing Blu-Ray DVDs as the sales and rental medium of the
future for users who cannot or do not want to download movies, such as
the many television lovers in the world who do not use computers. Also,
in the heart of Africa or the Amazon where there is no live TV
reception, users with TV sets can still use DVD disks on television
sets.
- Even though
outfits like Netflix now make it possible to download movies, this is
still less popular than the tremendous disk rental service that Netfilx
offers these days for playback on television sets (I love this service).
Although I could download movies on my computers, I prefer to get the
DVD disks that I can watch in comfort of my Lazyboy chair in front of a
large-screen television set. Already Netflix has an option for renting
DVD disks in the Blu-Ray format.
- DVD rental and
sales disks in stores appeal to browsers and impulse shoppers. I would
never think of buying movie on sale at Wal-Mart unless I stumbled over a
display of on-sale legendary movies in the in the aisle.
Blank DVD disks are still very
cheap ways to store lots of data over a long time and less prone to failure
than any other alternatives.
Bob Jensen
February 19, 2008 message from David Fordham,
James Madison University [fordhadr@JMU.EDU]
Is it really progress?
My grad classes have some interesting takes on this
stuff. Few of them know what an 8-track cartridge is, and I doubt anyone on
this list remembers magnetic wire recorders (before the invention of tape)
which my dad used when I was a little kid.
So what is *real* progress?
I make students question the use of the word
"standard". This allows some very good discussion in graduate systems
technology classes.
For instance, I take issue with the statement "the
market will decide". See
http://cob.jmu.edu/fordham/essay11.htm
which is a part of my grad class from two years ago.
To quote from a paragraph late in that essay,
"While the media pundits call this a "standard", it really isn't a
consumer-level standard at all, but rather a "producer-level" standard.
Calling the Blu-Ray-vs-HDDVD a standards war is like calling the "Boeing vs.
Airbus" a standards war. What the consumer wants is irrelevant. A few large
companies will decide which format they will use, because to the consumer,
both deliver what is essentially the same product. Once several of the
producers have selected one format over the other (due more to politics,
payoffs, kickbacks, and the good-ol-boy system than any valid reason), the
consumers will simply end up taking what they are given. Think about it.
When was the last time an airline asked you which plane you prefer, an
Airbus or a Boeing?
You were buying the end-product: the trip to
Orlando, the video image, or whatever. As long as the end-product was
delivered, the minor conveniences along the way were irrelevant. As that
essay points out, failure to deliver convenience to consumers doesn't really
matter anymore any way, a la big banks, phone companies, cellular providers,
credit card companies, etc. In our inter-related technology, the need for
compatibility overrides the market's wishes in terms of ALL the petty stuff.
And since the large producers make the big decisions, ... well, you get the
idea. The market isn't what decides.
