Ok, so I kinda cut down on the gadgets for this year's Spring holiday to Wales, insofar as only packing my Sony HCR-5E camcorder, Panasonic Lumix G1 and a Nintendo DS.
And the Tom Tom for directions, my Android powered phone, and our iPod Touch.
And the Belkin Tunebase FM car transmitter for the iPod. And our Macbook Pro.
Oh and the 3G dongle for internet access. And my Gerber multi-tool for those times we get lost in the woods.
And of course not forgetting the all the chargers and cables for the above.
Quite honestly, I don't know how we managed to get by that week.
Those outside the UK will probably never have heard the term 'Dixons' to describe a chain of electronics retailers - and sadly, never will, because the Dixons we all know and love has been rebranded to Currys.digital. Whatever.
The important part is that the Dixons name lives on in airports up and down the country. The last time I was in one it was called Dixons Tax Free. As the name implied many of the goods were on offer sans the Value Added Tax we in Britain pay for mostly all goods. Sadly, it too has succumbed to rebranding and has now become Dixons Travel. I fear it has something to do with not quite offering the same VAT free prices.
Anyway, there was a slight saving to be made by purchasing an iPad in the airport, so I waited, oohhh, at least a week after the UK launch before making use of a handy business trip to facilitate said saving.
As soon as I got though security, I proceeded straight to the tech store, narrowly avoiding the bar.
There were at least four staff, all seemingly preoccupied with their own duties.
I hesitate. Unlike the Dixons at, say, Luton airport, the purpleshirted staff here were positively sanguine towards the new, easy prey that had just walked in.
They have an iPad on display. It is being probed by some bearded traveller with a backpack. (Readers please note: By this time, I have already spent some quality time with an iPad at Apple's Regent St store. With 500 other people.)
I've been the shop for quite a number of seconds with nary a glance from a member of staff, except from a bloke I initially think is security and therefore ignore. Later, I realise he's a blackshirt from another tech store located deeper within the bowels of the terminal's retail space.
To my right are the laptops, to my left the cameras. Ignoring both I head manfully to the back of the store hoping, on the way, to be accosted by an eager staffer. I reach my destination unmolested.
Here, there appears to be about 10 feet of rack space devoted entirely to iPod cases. I bloody hate iPod cases. Nevertheless I casually pretend to be interested in the hope of an approach of a member of staff. Imagine their surprise, I chortle to myself, when instead of a cheap(ish) iPod accessory, I ask if they have any iPads in stock!
The staff ignore me. They seem to be preoccupied by replenishing the already full shelves.
Slightly annoyed at the staffs' lack of attentiveness, I wander out of the store to check the departure board. I have 45 minutes.
I hesitate, still not utterly convinced of the financial realities of actually purchasing an iPad. It's a lot of wonga, my brain tells my heart.
The moment of doubt passes and I once again amble into the store.
You'd think that sales floor staff in electronics stores, especially ones located in airports, would be trained to look out for yo-yo doubters like myself and be ready to pounce at this obvious sign of weakness.
I begin to wonder if my loitering hasn't triggered some semi-sentient security system somewhere, and that an armed Tactical Response Team is on its way to take me down. I wait. Nothing happens. Now I start handling 'the goods', a tactic that never fails to draw purpleshirt attention.
Well, I say 'handling', but down to fear of setting off the hypersensitive alarms, it's more a stroking of expensive kit. For some reason, I'm looking at a Canon EOS 5DMkII with a serious looking lens. The lens too, has a little alarm umbilical that means I'm twice as likely to set the ruddy alarm off..
I put the camera down, gently, and reassuringly see an older member of staff near the iPod docks. I stroll over, confident that his obvious seniority will enable him to process my request with utmost efficiency. On my way, I'm momentarily distracted by an Alienware laptop, it's neon lit keyboard beckoning to be touched. Strong of will, I ignore these glittering temptations and proceed past the Toshibas.
To my bewilderment the senior sales chap has disappeared!
Unnerved by this development, I now pretend to be interested in iPod docks. Apart from that oversized rugby ball of tech, the B&W Zeppelin, they're all rubbish. Still no interest from the staff, whose numbers have dwindled to three. Surely, I think, there are rules governing the number of staff present in the store at any one time. I mean, what if a huddle of wealthy Japanese tourists were to shuffle in? They [the store] would be swamped, unable to cope... I dismiss the idea quickly - Japanese tourists are unlikely to bring back Japanese goods from Britain, to Japan. That'd be like me flying to Tokyo to buy a bottle of Glenfiddich.
Having worryingly lost track of time, I head back to the departure board. 35 minutes to go. Phew. I decide to ponder the purchase over lunch, and head to Pret for a Super Club and a cappuccino.
The coffee is hot. I mean really hot. 20 minutes later I'm quaffing back the last of the foamy goodness, and having possibly quite definitely made my mind up over the iPad, make my way back to the store.
There are 15 minutes until my flight is due to be called. As I double check the departure board to make sure I'm looking at the right flight, the banner changes to green. Goto Gate 88.
Sod it. I march into the store, right up to a sales assistant who is checking, on the computer, that the shelves are indeed full.
He is startled by my sudden appearance. I do not mince my words. "iPads," I say, "Got any in stock?"
"Uhh, yes." he replies, moving swiftly to where the demo unit is perched. He unlocks the undercounter storage. His cupboard of iPad boxes is full, save for the one he'd extracted for me. It looked a lot like a game of Tetris that was about to end.
At the till, I have a frisson of fear that my credit card will be rejected. It is not and I leave the store much poorer than when I entered.
I rush to the aforementioned Gate. Come my precious, I think to myself, bag in hand, let us board the winged stallion and travel to the Northern territories, for the ceremony known as the "Unboxing".
Nissan’s Leaf will be one of the first mass produced fully electric vehicles to be introduced to UK roads.
Last week, I had the privilege of taking one of the prototypes for a short test drive, as part of Nissan’s rather low key efforts to raise awareness of this new model.
With the Leaf, Nissan are attempting to bring to market a battery powered car in the shape of a regular family sized hatchback. And, to an extent, they’ve largely succeeded.
Of course, the usual caveats of EVs persist - limited range and (at the time of writing) poor recharging infrastructure.
However if, like me, you drive a 20-25 mile commute and have a garage within which to charge the vehicle, then the Leaf starts to become a serious proposition. Fuel is relatively cheap and is free of the duty levied on petrol and diesel. Being a zero emission vehicle, it attracts zero Vehicle Excise Duty - or road tax to you and me. There are fewer complicated oily bits to go wrong, so servicing should be cheaper.
As a result, the Leaf should be a cheap car to run. And, unlike the Tesla Roadster, the Leaf is approaching affordable, even if it is expensive for the size of car it is. Entry to the EV club was never going to be cheap for early adopters. The same was probably true for ICE automobiles until the Model T arrived.
Back to the Nissan event. The roadshow, if you could call it that, was held at 2 locations; the 02 Arena in London, and at the Centre for Life, Newcastle Upon Tyne. As the car is planned to be built at Nissan's Sunderland plant, Newcastle was the obvious choice for this demo.
Having driven down from Glasgow, and not knowing what to expect, we were a little underwhelmed to find a couple of small Nissan tents and a small exhibition trailer parked up in the courtyard that forms the campus of the Centre for Life.
That said, the Nissan staff were helpful and I quickly got signed onto the test drive list. The car was still being charged (unceremoniously left in a corner, near a power outlet), so we decided to come back after lunch.
Under one tent sat the 'static' Leaf showcar. Cordoned off, this was strictly hands off, because apparently they only have two - a left hand drive model and a right hand drive model. Present was one Nissan gentleman sporting white cotton gloves who was good enough to open the rear hatch and doors so that we great unwashed could get a better look at the interior.
Whilst the cream insides of the prototype might not be very family friendly, the blue tinged dash and controls looked very Star Trek. Whether this makes it to the production model remains to be seen.
Overall, we liked the look of the Leaf. The slightly bulbous look is deliberate - apparently it makes it look like an eco car - and I'd agree. And because it looks unique (as opposed to fitting the electric gubbins in, say, a Micra or Note), it's sure to leave it's eco mark wherever you leave it.
It was time for my test run. Turns out the test vehicle was actually a Nissan Versa, a production car available in the US, and thus a left hand drive. It had been modified to accommodate the electrics and drive train of what will be the production Leaf.
The first lap was with the Nissan test driver at the wheel. Let me tell you, this car can shift. And it does it silently.
Within the limits of the tiny track, the vehicles' performance was surprising to say the least.
My turn, now, to drive Nissan's only working model.
As I slid behind the wheel I found the controls were exactly like an automatic, and as my current car is a CVT equipped Nissan, I was right at home.
Still, I forgot to put my foot on the brake before engaging Drive, so nothing happened initially. (The CVT has a mechanical interlock - the gearshift won't move unless the the footbrake is depressed. Not so on the fly-by-wire Leaf.)
Underway, the car was surprisingly smooth. Nissan have obviously put a lot of work into making the drivetrain respond in a similar way to that of a petrol car and dipping the accelerator provided a pleasing burst of power.
The car does all this silently, of course. There is legislation being introduced to make EVs emit a sound to alert pedestrians of their presence. If not, I imagine the death toll in local supermarket car parks to be quite high.
So, test drive complete, the serious question of would I actually buy one quickly came up. I certainly fit the profile of a low-mileage commuter, and as we're a two car family, we always have a fossil fuel car for those long trips up and down the country. So yes, if the price is right, the Leaf seems a viable proposition.
Prices are to be announced in for the UK at the end of May 2010, so watch this space.
You see, he's much bigger than the other construction toy robots. Bigger than any Bionicle. Larger than many a Meccano. Taller than a Transformer. (OK, that last one isn't actually a construction toy...). And K'nex... let's just forget K'nex.
He's a bit left out, ol' Struxx 'bot is.
Much better to think of him as a kind of kiddie Terminator, a T0.5, silently wishing he could grow up to be, at the very least, a human smushing composite steel T800 Model 101.
Sorry to say, it's never going to happen. His 29-inch wibbly-wobbly frame is just too weak for such aspirations. Not to mention the propensity for joints to pop out of their sockets at inappropriate moments. At least his eyes light up, giving him a freakish orange stare.
And it's a shame, really, because at it's root, the Struxx construction system verges on the actually-quite-good.
Struxx is a product from the 'brick-compatible' non-Lego Mega Bloks. Now, to any fan of Lego like myself, inviting a Mega Bloks product into your home is the equivalent of inviting Dracula himself over the threshold. Once he's in, he's welcome any time.
In it's favour is the fact that it doesn't directly compete with anything on offer from Lego. It doesn't particularly look like anything from Lego. The parts don't have studs. There aren't many right angles. The colour palette is limited to silver, charcoal and green. And as the name suggests, constructions are largely built from struts connected mainly by ball-sockets.
By and large, it's a well made toy. Attention has been given to the important interlocking pieces. The ball-socket joints are reassuringly snug, with sufficient friction to hold parts in place. There's even a larger, green ball joint part that makes possible a stronger joint like the hip and shoulder joints.
There are many types of joint in this kit. Single, bi, tri and quad ball joints. Fixed angle joints. Buttress style joints. It's all very bewildering, coming from the comforts of Lego's established brick system. But the parts go together easily and I imagine a fairly large construction could be built rapidly.
On completion of Spindly here, the end result, despite being a bit unsteady, is quite a pleasing articulated space-frame type thing.
Now for the not-so-good bits.
A construction toy is only as good as the instructions accompanying it. Here, Struxx robot is a little let down. To start with, there a a couple of addendum sheets that need careful studying. Mainly because they're a bit wrong. Some pieces, the angle joints, have a handedness to them. That is to say, the illustration in the manual is of the piece in a particular orientation. Except that in the addendum, the piece can never look like how it's pictured, because someone has flipped the piece image in the vertical and then had it printed. It's not that much of a problem really, but it's annoying and confusing.
Confusing, also, are the bits in the manual that are correct. It's sometimes not clear how the socket parts should be aligned in the strut - the octagonal socket and pins allow for four possible angles (for symmetrical parts - eight for asymmetrical) and only after an assembly has been built and joints start a-poppin' do you have to go back and revise the alignment of the part. Even harder is making sure that tri-pieces are lined up properly.
I also found it difficult to get my completed assemblies to look exactly like the ones in the manual, mainly down to the lack of perspective used in the illustrations and the large amount of freedom of movement in 3D some of the assemblies have.
Having said all that, getting the parts right and put together is ultimately quite rewarding.
The Struxx Gears block is a bit disappointing. Lego Technic it is not. Looking like it might be a differential, it tries to allow some sort of mechanised articulation but its function is quite limited. You can't transmit the rotation to other parts of the model because other parts don't allow it. So the robot has a limp left arm that turns the head when swung. That's why he's a bit sad. As a mechanism, it's a bit rubbish, particularly when compared to this.
I was also a bit disappointed that there were no secondary model instructions. There are plenty of pictures of them on the box and in the manual - but no step by step guide on how to build them. The Struxxworld website - well it doesn't really exist. You are re-directed to the Mega Bloks product pages where Flash abounds and the only remotely informative alternate build instructions take the form of 360-degree images of lots of models.
Be prepared to have your laptop handy (and a magnifying glass)when your child demands you build the Range Rover lookee-likee.
Overall though, I like this toy - it's sufficiently different to make it interesting, but doesn't quite have the appeal (or compactness) of Lego's Bionicles, or the technical detail to meet the Technic range.
Finally, the Struxx robots inability to self-terminate, means a slow death by dismantling, or maybe being chucked in to a vat of molten... chocolate.
... someone updated their blog on a more regular basis than I do.
Today I'm looking at a really neat USB gizmo - the Sandisk Ultra II 4Gb SD card.
This is one of those SD cards that also slots into a USB port and presents itself like any other USB flash drive. If your laptop doesn't sport a SD slot, this little device is a godsend.
The 4Gb capacity means that it's only compatible with SDHC equipment such as my Acer Aspire One and digital photo frame.
However, flip open the cover, and the card can be used in any USB port. It mounts quickly on the Mac desktop, as well as Windows and Linux.
The double hinge mechanism looks flimsy, and it probably wouldn't stand up to rough handling, but it's well engineered and snaps shut with a satisfying click.
There's even a tiny activity light that remains invisible - I mean you really can't see where the LED is - when the card is unplugged from the USB port.
Transfer speeds are fast - what you would expect from this class of device.
All I need now is a few more gadgets that support SDHC!
The Sandisk V-Mate has been around for a couple of years now, but not only has it been discontinued, but no replacement device seems to exist that replicates the V-Mates' functionality.
The concept behind the V-Mate is simple: take a video source and encode it directly to memory card in mpeg4 format, without using a computer. The mini- and micro-SD slots on the unit mean that you could encode something for direct viewing on a mobile phone. There's a MS Pro Slot that takes Duo cards without an adapter, so encoding directly to PSP cards is straightforward too.
In addition to standard SD cards, the V-Mate accepts SDHC, MMC and RSMMC. It's a comprehensive list but so far I've only been able to try the unit with standard SD cards. Partly this is due to not having spare cards to hand, and partly due to mistrust of the V-Mates' ability not to corrupt cards from other devices.
I say this, because my first attempt at recording resulted in a SD card that could no longer be read by my camera (although the Mac could see it) - a format sorted it - but the V-Mate had done something to the FAT on the card to render it unusable by the camera.
Now, I only have one high capacity MS-Pro Duo card and that's in the PSP and carries a fair mixture of game saves, some music , pictures and config files. I'd rather the V-Mate didn't muck it up - so I've not yet tried direct to PSP recording. (Yes I know I can backup the card... but I don't have time for that...).
The V-Mate packs a couple of extra features in addition to recording video. Tied to the core function is a scheduler set much like a VCR - this in turn drives an IR blaster to change channels on a set top box. I've not tried this because it's not how I intend to use the device (clue: I have a TiVo). A mini USB port allows connection to a PC or Mac and allows the V-Mate to double as a multi-format card reader. Remember that, unlike the bulk of card readers, this handles those pesky micro and mini-SD cards.
Now, all this is packaged in a compact form that looks a little lost even next to an Apple TV. Video to and from the unit is a simple composite signal, together with left/right audio channels. Most video devices put out this signal, but they're usually part of the Scart socketry instead of a discrete, dedicated socket. So, a switchable Scart adapter (from eBay) is required to start using the V-Mate.
Ah. Using the V-Mate. This is where concept meets real-world and the result is a train wreck. Ok, I'm being a bit harsh. The main problem is the unresponsive remote. The annoying bubble-texture buttons, when prodded, don't do anything... most of the time. Sometimes, the unit buffers two remote operations, by which time you've pressed the buttons a few times more to be sure and the interface ends up where you don't want it.
The result makes using the V-Mate thoroughly unenjoyable, which is a pity because I really like the idea.
Recordings can be made in various resolutions, to match the intended playback device. One problem is that resulting mpeg4 files are in the 4:3 aspect ratio. Most TV in the UK is broadcast in 16:9. V-Mate will still record this, but the result is squashed and unwatchable. A solution is to re-encode the video, adjusting the aspect ratio along the way. This scheme works but the overall time and effort required to process even 1 hour of television leaves me asking the question: is it worth it? The answer depends on how important it is to get the video onto the computer. This process is something I'll describe in a future article.
I like the V-Mate. It has an appealingly unique function. The operation of the device could be better, but it does what it sets out to do and the results are not too shabby. I got mine cheap on eBay and despite the gripes, this is quite a cool bit of kit.
Fans of Futurama will be well aware what 'Snoo Snoo' is. If you don't know what it means, google it.
In the Futurama episode in question, Zif, Zap Brannigan and Fry are caught by giant Amazonian women from a planet populated by, er, giant Amazonian women. Their method of torture? Death by snoo snoo.
Witness the mixture of abject horror and abject pleasure as our animated chums contemplate their predicament.
Death by snoo snoo is what I contemplate when I think about the new Apple Macbook, launched a couple of days ago.
In one instant, you have an utterly gorgeous machine, honed from solid aluminium - an engineering and manufacturing marvel - and at the same time, a machine that - to me personally - is totally pointless.
Pointless because of that missing firewire port. You see, I have a lot invested in miniDV - two cameras and several hours worth of standard def and hi-definition footage awaiting editing. I really don't have plans to change my perfectly good Sony hi-def camcorder, for another hi-def camcorder that uses USB.
Our household has the two Macs - one G5 iMac and my old iBook. The iMac can handle the HD content no problem, but its stuck in one location and I was really keen to move that heavy lifting to a new Macbook. Alas, that plan has been scuppered by the lack of a firewire port on the Macbook. Admittedly, the vast majority of people will not miss this, but considering my old iBook was purchased partly on the basis that you could hook a miniDV camcorder to it and edit the footage via firewire (a feature promoted by Apple at the time) it seems a shame that my upgrade path be blocked by such a simple omission.
I have two choices. I buy the cheaper white Macbook with firewire, or I buy the Macbook pro (does this even have FW 400?) The utterly gorgeous metal Macbook is as useful to me as a block of cheese.
I can surf the net quite well on a sub £200 netbook. In fact, I am doing just that right now. Without that vital port, a Macbook would be serving exactly the same purpose and very little more. It hurts to say this, but why bother?
At the bottom of the sidebar on this blog you'll see the 'My iTunes' gadget errr widget I've added.
Now, some people will think this is insanely great, while a great many will loathe it for everything Apple and the iTMS stands for.
I'm in both camps. I like the fact I can put this on my blog easily. I'm not convinced if advertising my esoteric taste in music is wise, nor am I thrilled at punting a blatent marketing ploy by Apple. Plus, I'm not sure I like the increase in bandwidth the already sluggish Blogger page is lumbered with. But it is cool and adds a bit of pzazz to my dull old page.
I'll leave it on for the meantime and see how we get on.
By the way - is the iTunes Genius thing not a brilliant way of making yet more money out of iTunes? I personally think the technology behind the selection process is great - so great, in fact, that it's suckered me into buying two tracks on a whim so far. You can't fault Apple on this nugget of marketing genius.
Yes, in my clammy hands is my K850i after a round trip to the Vodafone repair centre. I suspect it's been re-flashed, but with what?
I mean, it's working but now is exhibiting behaviour that it didn't before. For example, it's taking black photos now where the flash is required. This is a well known fault with the K850i (bad syncronicity between flash and shutter), but my phone, pre-BROD*, never suffered from this. (AFAIK)
Also, I've noticed that after the camera is activated by the dedicated button, and the camera is exited by means of the hang-up button, the shutter LED and camera shorcut buttons remain lit. Well, it never did that before. Harrumph. Even more frustrating, this fault seems to occur randomly. Ho hum.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Ok, so no sooner than I post a less than glowing piece on my mobile phone, the K850i, it gets it's revenge by going tits up on me. That's right, it's got the Blue Ring of Death.
I'm usually immune to such gadget misfortune. I type this on a 7 year old iBook. I could probably type it up on my Atari Portfolio (yes, the one from Terminator 2) if I could get stuff off it.
The point is that, if cared for, most gadgets will outlive their usefulness and continue their existence at the bottom of a box. Like my original Playstation (a mark 1 model with all the av output gubbins).
So it should come as a surprise to find a state of the art device, only a few months old, fail inexplicably overnight. I say 'should', because I was well aware of the K850i's problems, but I thought surely, surely they (Sony Ericsson) would get on top of this well known firmware issue by the time I got mine.
But no. As of today it's back with Vodafone for 'repair'. We'll see how long that repair lasts.
After much hype and anticipation, the iPhone 3G has landed, and despite addressing the main failings of the original iPhone, the new model is still lacking a decent camera.
I don't know why this should be a problem for a gadgeteer like myself. Why not just carry around my regular digital camera and be done with it. Well, as I've found out as the owner of a Samsung X820, having a camera always with you is very appealing for those moments when you didn't bring along the camera. But the Sammy, bless it, sported a 2 megapixel camera and no flash whatsoever. Just like the iPhone 3G. And having a decent camera in a phone was becoming more important to me.
So, a couple of months ago, I upgraded to a Sony Ericsson K850i. It's a bit rubbish. I'll tell you why.
After the svelte form of the X820s 6.9mm lovelyness, carrying the K850i is rather like trying to shove a Portakabin in your pocket. It's a bit of a porker. Next up is the awful navigation pad. It fails for several reasons. It's painful to use - ok not painful, just uncomfortable. Sometimes you inadvertently hit one of the two numeric keys it surrounds, and, unless you have the fingers of an elf, sometimes you touch the middle touch soft-key, sending operation of the phone off at a tangent.
Ah, the touch keys. What wonder. Did you know some other phones are operated by touch? Yes indeedy. And Sony thought it was about time they too put a toe in the water with regards a touch interface. Well, that toe, I'm afraid, has just been nibbled off by the piranhas, for it seems that implementing a decent touch interface is harder than it looks. Eh Sony? Let's face it, the touch screen element on the K850i is abysmal. And for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. Pun intended.
You see, it's not that the touch interface doesn't work, it's just that it's so bleedin' inconsistent. Most of the time all that is required is the lightest gossamer like stroke and the interface snaps to attention. At other times, I'm pressing the screen so hard I fear the phone will implode in my hands. Could it be that I caught the phone napping? That it wasn't quite ready for my prodding digits? Sometimes it takes seconds to respond, my thumb going white under the pressure and my face going red in silent rage. This is not a good human/phone experience.
Naturally, instinct tells you to try prodding the touch button again because, you know, maybe the phone didn't 'feel' me the first time. Of course, now the phone instantly responds by registering two presses, and if the first press was the 'back' button, the second almost without fail activates Vodafone bleeding Live because it shares the same soft key position as the 'back' button. Cue much cursing. And every time this happens, I have to remind myself why I bother to put up with such miserable design failings. I'll tell you. 5 megapixels. Autofocus. Xenon flash.
Yes, the K850i happens to be a very good camera. A camera I can carry wherever I go. I forgive the school bus proportions. I forgive the laughable attempt at 'touch'. I forgive the awful design decisions that led to that navpad. Did I mention the stupidly small keys, too? I forgive it all, because this is a decent camera phone. And that's just as well, because I have another 16 months of contract to go before an upgrade comes along. And by then, perhaps the iPhone will have caught up in the imaging department.
Normally I'd sign off here, on a high note. But for those seeking decent video capture from the K850i will be disppointed. I know I was, as 18 months beyond the Samsung X820, I find that the K850i markedly poorer in it's ability to capture video. Where the X820 did QVGA at 15fps, the K850i does the same at 30fps. But 30fps is wasted if the compression is too extreme, which it is on this phone. Shoot anything with trees, or grass, or gravel, or, well , detail of any sort and the result is a horrible mess of compression artefacts. The Samsung had a lower framrate but the video was at least watchable. Poor show, Sony.
I'm a bit of a watch fan. Some people get away with just one. Some don't wear them because they get lost, and some, like me, buy new watches all the time. Ok, so I've got a few and only wear one at a time naturally, what's the problem?
The latest was a long service award for staying with the company for 20 years. I'm crazy, I know. Anyhoo, in the past awards were chosen from a jewelers catalogue, but lately a gift catalogue was supplied, from which a gift to the value of the award must be chosen. Choose from a catalogue? You must be joking - I already had a firm idea what I wanted.
So, with my haggling hat on, I visited the shop and secured a limited edition Citizen Calibre 9000 minute repeater.
It's a lovely timepiece, although the large face is somewhat unusual - perhaps cluttered - and takes a bit of getting used to.
What does it do? Well, the main 'minute repeater' function is supposed to emulate actual mechanical minute repeater pocket watches of old, where the watch would chime the hour and minute at the press of a button. This it does, but with an electronic chime. What would you expect? After all, we're not quite in exclusive Swiss precision territory here - not at this price.
The minute repeater is, then, just a gimmick, but quite a sweet one. There are two alarms, and a perpetual calendar, the day of month indicated by the red hand. The smaller of the timekeeping dials is the one where alarm and minute repeater functions are referenced. The main watchface can be set to local time (if traveling abroad).
In addition to the second-hand dial, there is a little dial indicating am or pm - the watch needs to know this obviously to keep the alarm function in check.
I nearly forgot - this watch is solar powered. Using Citizen's Eco-Drive system, it's light powered, as it can charge from a lightbulb apparently. The photo-voltaic cell sits behind the scalloped part of the face, and charges an in-built battery. I'm not sure what the lifespan of the battery is, seeing as the watch itself should last for decades. And what if, decades from now, Citizen no longer support battery replacement? Yes, I'm looking at you, 1st Gen iPod.
With a croc skin strap and a deployment clasp, the watch oozes class, but feels heavy on the wrist - I suspect this is because I normally wear an aluminium cased Swatch. And that I have the wrists of an elf.
So, a suitable stop gap I think until I win the lottery and get a Rolex...
Or, for that matter, an Asus EE PC. I'm talking IBM Thinkpad here, specifically the 240X.
We've been using a couple of 240X's at work for some years now, sadly one took a fall from the top of a step ladder and got badly damaged, the other suffered from a dead mainboard. A short time later, I had a fully working one assembled from the parts of the two.
For a long time I've been keeping my eye out for other 'broken' 240Xs on eBay and finally secured one for a whole £25. Of course it was sans harddrive and power adaptor, and had a worryingly cracked battery, but remember - I had a drawer full of parts back in the office from which to assemble this, a working sub-notebook on which I'm typing this blog entry.
A 240X yesterday
If you don't know the 240X, let me take you on a tour.
Firstly, it's small. With a profile smaller than a sheet of A4 paper, it fits neatly into the pocket of my backpack. It's just over an inch thick, but the added height of the 'fat' battery adds to that, but lifts the back of the laptop to offer a nice typing angle.
Ah, the keyboard. This is possibly the finest laptop keyboard ever made. I'm not kidding. Smaller than usual but feeling perfect under the fingers with no funnies like shrunken enter key or misplaced backspace. It's just right and a pleasure to use. There is no trackpad - instead there is IBM's Trackpoint, your love-it-or-loath-it nipple for controlling the pointer. I quite like the trackpoint nipple.
Under the bonnet is a Pentium III clocking in at 500MHz. Equipped with the maximum 192Mb of ram and the factory fitted 12Gb HD, this little laptop makes an acceptable travelling browser, if not a multimedia powerhouse. Especially when equipped with a wireless card in the PC Card slot. The 10.1" 800x600 TFT screen can feel cramped on some websites, but the display can be configured to act as a window on a 1024x768 desktop - a distracting but useful feature.
Comparisons with the Macbook Air are obvious. This laptop has only one USB port (albeit USB 1.1), and no optical drive. With the default Windows 2000, it happily accepts USB thumb drives and mice. At the back there is a VGA port, a parallel port and a serial port - the latter of which is impossible to find on modern sub-notebooks. There is a PS/2 mouse/keyboard port to one side, an IRDa and headphone, line in and out ports on the other. And a V90 modem, too. Ethernet has to be supplied via the cardslot. There is a proprietry connector for the external floppy drive - fairly essential for booting without a working HD.
Ok, it's not quite a Macbook Air, and the Win2k install took about 2 days to get up to date what with service patches, firewall, antivirus and antispyware installation before I could surf with gay abandon.
And here is where it gets interesting.
My iBook is a similar age. It too has a 500MHz processor, albeit a G3. It has 256Mb of ram and a bigger 1024x768 screen. But the iBook is slower, both in general response and when surfing the net. This 240X is snappier on the net - I can watch Youtube and streamed iPlayer perfectly where the iBook struggles.
But. Where the Thinkpad fails is simply this: recovery from sleep. It does not work. On the iBook, you can close the lid, go do something, return, open the lid and be where you left off in about 10 seconds. It's been like this, day in, day out, for years with total reliability. On the Thinkpad, with a fresh Win2k install from the IBM factory restore CD, recovery from sleep failed the first time. I might have well just ripped the battery out for all the difference it made. However, putting Win2k into standby manually works, so it's not a total disaster.
So, for a cheap answer to ultra-portable computing, the 240X is hard to beat. If you can get your hands on a working one.
Here is a link to the ThinkWiki page for the 240X.
22 November 2017: Hi folks! Thanks to everyone who's downloaded and enjoyed my year planner macro over the years. I have had reports that the macro does not work under Office 2016 which until now I have not been able to test. As I write, the macro (V4.1) works unchanged on a new Office 365 install on a Mac. However if you have another workbook open it will fail with a 'Subscript out of range' error. I promise to fix this in the near future! So, close all other open workbooks and try again. {Now Mac compatible. Finally.} New! Yearplanner Maker 2013 Edition now available!See below! Here you'll find my solution to a simple problem - how to use Excel to create wall planner charts automatically.
Previously, I had to draw them by hand in Excel - filling, shading, bordering, numbering, all done manually. Any changes to formatting was time consuming and repetitive.
So I set about writing some VBA code to create an app to do the job for me - to turn out presentable Sasco style yearplanners in a variety of formats at the click of a mouse. All you need to do is tell it what year it is and the month you'd prefer the chart to begin on, and the rest is taken care of.
The result is my Year Planner Maker, a free, perpetual chart creator that allows you to tweak away until you get the look you want.
The images below are of the latest version.
A few words about security
Above all else, your security on line is paramount. Unfortunately, because my macro is unsigned, you need to turn off Excels' default macro security to run it, if you have not done so already. This process varies between versions, so I've outlined the process for Excel versions 2000 and 2007.
Excel 2007 & later: First close the Yearplanner workbook
if you have it open. Click the Office button, then click the Excel Options
button that appears at the bottom of the pane. Click on Trust Center, then
Trust Center Settings.
Choose Macro Settings, then choose to enable all macros.
If macro security is a concern to you, you’ll need to repeat these steps to
enable it after using my app. Lucky for you Microsoft made these controls so
easily accessible. /sarcasm
Excel 2003 and earlier: First close the Yearplanner workbook
if you have it open. On a blank workbook, choose Tools>Macros>Security then
select Low. Excel:Mac 2011: Choose Excel>Preferences>Security>Macro Security. Uncheck the box.
The macro performs no file operations, but any concerns can be put to me through the comments or directly via Twitter. Mac compatibility November 2017 Upadate:The macro runs on any Mac running MacOS High Sierra and Office 365. It is still a bit slow on a Mac. Sorry. Update October 2012: Version 4.1 - Added second colour palette option for split years.
Split years - start the chart on any month, for 12 months eg. June 2018 through to May 2019 - ideal for academic planners (see picture below)
Charts of any colour or black and white
Colour Randomiser!
Shaded days
Alternately coloured weekday
Week Numbers
Grid lines
Text entries from a dated list (UK Holidays for example, included)
Pick out selected dates in a different colour with Event and Highlight function
One advantage of Excel is that the result is just a standard spreadsheet. It can be edited beyond what the app achieves, to suit your requirements.
Got access to a large format printer? Excel can easily print your planner up to A0 for a true wall planner effect. (See image below)
Horizontal Layout
Vertical Layout showing split year
Printing A0 size on an HP Designjet
A brief guide to using the macro
Control Panel Options
The control panel is self explanatory, but there are
basically two modes of operation to bear in mind.
First, changing the colours will immediately affect the look
of the chart in the background. This is because the macro dynamically alters the
Excel palette – no need to redraw the whole thing. This instant feedback is
really handy for fine-tuning the shades on your chart.
If you change any other setting, you will need to press the
Preview button to see the result because of the need to redraw the chart from
scratch.
So feel free to play around with colours and options to get
the chart you want – the settings are preserved so that you can save the
workbook and return to it later. Just remember to click Start on the Start
sheet to return to the Control Panel.
Feedback, suggestions and bugs can be reported using the comments. Enjoy.
Ok, let's get one thing clear. I love toys. Not just any old tat, mind. Some toys are just too good for children. One example might be the Lego Bionicle range. Sure, it's a construction toy. It's my favourite (Lego), but it's a sharply designed, fully poseable (very important, this) action figure that really looks the biz. And it's aimed at kids. These things, the Bionicles - and any other Lego stuff for that matter - are well designed and made of the highest quality materials and are possibly just too good to be played with.
I note also that K'nex, that spindly arch rival to Lego, now has a brick-like component in some kits, complete with studs that in no way whatsoever could mate up with, oh, I dunno bricks from some other toy manufacturer. That's right, Megabloks.
So anyway, with toys these days mashed perennially with other media, particularly TV, I took the opportunity to pick up a Supermag Cyberman, modelled after the new Doctor Who characters. He's a jolly little chap, standing about 7 inches/17cm tall.
Plastwood (the makers of the Supermag range) have done a cracking job on the details, particularly the head and torso, using quality plastics with a good fit and finish.
The trademark magnetic joints primarily make up the arms, with the head, torso, hip and ankle joints being steel ball and plastic sockets. Sadly, the knees are fixed - I suspect the intention was to make them magnetic, but the lack of friction to hold these joints in place would have been a deciding factor.
The upper legs are just the Supermag plastic rods and so look spindly in comparison to the rest of the figure.
The Doctor Who range includes a Dalek, K-9, and a Tardis, but I think this is the best because it's the least construction-y toy looking. And he looks cool, to boot.
The other day I visited our local, friendly 'recycling centre' (AKA 'the dump') to drop off some 'materials for recycling' (AKA 'rubbish') only to notice the giant crates of broken CRT TVs sitting there like the sun bleached ivory of a technological graveyard. With a slight twinge of sadness, I wondered (had they not been quite damaged by the October climate in Scotland) if any were perfectly good TVs before they made that last, lonely trip to the telly knackers yard. Requiring only a Playstation 1 or just a set top aerial for company, I suspect many had years of quality viewing left in them. Perhaps, I thought, they had company on that last trip in the shape of a broken Flymo and that Strimmer that never fed it's twine properly. Ever.
It's now quite hard to buy a CRT, standard definition TV here in the UK unless you go to a supermarket and even there they are flogging cheap HD-ready, digital TV capable screens of decent size and questionable quality. I, for one, welcome our new digital TV overlords having 'bought into' the idea last year with the purchase of a modest 26" model from Philips, and only then just managed to clamber halfway from the primordial sludge that is Standard Definition TV.
So earlier this year, in order to lie basking on the sun-cracked mud of HD and with not a little trepidation, I purchased a Sony HDR-HC5 high definition camcorder to replace my broken Canon. Call it futureproofing if you like, but I was determined not to go back to fuzzy old DV, even if I can't fully utilise the HV footage, for reasons I shall explain soon.
Next up will be a mini review of the HDR-HC5 and my thoughts on that choice 6 months on from buying it.
It's been a lousy summer so far here in Blighty. Even in Scotland, a country not known for it's balmy evenings, it's mostly been cold, dull and grey. My weather widget seldom brings cheer. Not much by way of opportunity to whip out my new camcorder. Oh yes.
The old one, a Canon of a scant 4 years of age, has a broken imaging sensor - a fault recognised by Canon and fixed free of charge if I can get my lazy arse around to packing it up and shipping the thing off for repair.
So anyway, rather than do that I went, in true gadgeteer style, and got meself a high def unit from Sony. Rather than go nuts and get a hard drive or DVD or even solid state model, this one records onto tape. A wee bit retro, don'tcha think? But for good reason, dear reader. Tape, simply because iMovieHD won't talk anything else. And it's a good archive medium. Although with iLife 08 waiting in the wings at Apple HQ, I wouldn't be surprised if the latest version supported AVHCD, the new-fangled format supported by most non-tape camcorders.
And with HD video chewing through 1 gig of drive space per minute of footage, I can't afford to have anything significant hanging around on the iMac. Once edited down, that holiday footage can be punted back onto tape for archiving and later embarrassment of my daughter when she's 18 (currently 10 months).
I'll post a review of the fancy-schmancy 'corder soon. It's a HDR-HC5 btw, you Sony model number spotting freaks.
I landed a gadget windfall a while back when I exchanged my trusty Sony Ericsson T630 for a Samsung X820. I say windfall, because I got the Samsung for free and got to keep the T630.
Anyway, the Samsung has turned out to be a fine phone. The downside of the 6.9mm casing is of course the battery. Standby time is fine - the screen is off to save juice - but actual usage time is measurably shorter than the T630. Lots of use of the 2M pixel camera or shooting video shortens the battery life dramatically. So much for being on the bleeding edge.
But battery aside, I'm liking the X820. Good call quality, vibrant screen, decent camera and inuitive interface all lead to a pleasant phone experience. It even has some decent ringtones built in, something the T630 didn't.
Oh, one other thing; the X820 is indeed the same thickness as a wafer biscuit. Just so you know.
It's been a hectic few months here at gadget central. First of all there was the arrival of a baby daughter in September. Yes, mine/. Shock to the system, yes. No more time for gadgets? Err, a bit less but I do try. Completely new perspective on life? Mostly.
Ok, first newborn, then sold house in November, then sold second house bought and moved in to new house December. So, I think that pretty much sums up the reasons for not updating the blog in ages.
So, what's new? Well, I got a new mobile phone, a jelly bean dispenser and a robot. The phone was free, the bean machine a gift for Christmas, and the robot, er, a needless luxury purchase. Also upcoming will be a spot on the TomTom satnav unit I got for the summer hols last year. I just upgraded the TiVo's hardrive too, so maybe a bit on that. Plenty to be getting on with. And to I'll finish things off with one word to show I'm on the steady pulse of technological development: iPhone. Say no more!
