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My Palm Real Reviewer stint, which lasts for about 6 months, started a couple weeks ago. The device they currently have me using is the Palm Pre, the first smartphone running Palm's all-new webOS handheld operating system.

As a long-time (since early 1996) veteran of Palm OS devices -- really, I can honestly say that I can count on two hands the number of days since May of 1996 that I've gone without relying on a Palm OS device for something -- adapting to an entirely new platform had me a bit apprehensive. But, as Palm OS is going the way of OS/2 and CP/M, I'm forced to move to something, and the Pre is pretty enticing. So, this is my first attempt at summarizing some of the highs and lows of the Palm Pre and webOS, especially as it compares to my previous phone, the Palm Centro.

1. Man, the Palm Pre is teensy! Coming from Treos weighing down my pants over the past several years, I thought the Centro was rather petite, but the Pre makes the Centro look downright beefy. Shorter, narrower, thinner, and lighter, the Pre is very compact and feels nice in the hand.

2. The slider is a bit of a hassle. Having been on Treos and a Centro since the Treo 300 first came out in late 2002, I've gotten used to having a physical QWERTY keyboard on my phone. In fact, that's reason #1 why I didn't consider getting an iPhone. Having used one (my sister's) a fair amount, plus hands-on time in the Apple store, I just didn't feel comfortable with the virtual keyboard. When it comes to typing speed and tactile feedback, there's no substitute for physical buttons. However, when closed, the Pre has only one button (which brings up the cards view) visible. To access the keyboard, it has to be slid out from underneath the display. Yes, that's reasonably easy to do and I'm getting increasingly used to doing it, but it's still not as convenient as having the keys accessible all the time. The trade-off, of course, is the extra height of the display that might have to be given up. Those extra 160 pixels are very handy, so I'm not sure this isn't a great trade-off. More time is needed for me to make up my mind on this aspect. I do like the keyboard, however...very easy and comfortable to type on, in my opinion.

3. Multitasking FTW! Seriously...I had no idea how much I'd come to love multitasking on the Palm Pre. The card view in webOS makes it incredibly easy to switch between tasks, something my old Palm OS devices never did. Opening a new app closed the previous one, sometimes losing state information, which made it less than convenient. For example, if I wanted to add a phone number for someone to a calendar entry, I'd have to stop editing the calendar item, open the addressbook, find the person, copy the phone number, open the calendar back up, navigate back to the day and event I was editing, open it for editing again, and paste the number in. With the Pre, when I use Universal Search to find the contact, I can open that entry and copy the phone number while keeping the calendar event open for editing. This is so much more efficient and convenient than non-multitasking Palm OS was. And, as I have used Windows Mobile devices off and on over the years, even though WinMo does multitask, it doesn't let the user switch among running tasks nearly as fluidly as webOS does.

4. Comparing the Pre to the Centro is interesting. There are loads of really cool things the Pre can do that the Centro cannot (e.g., GPS, multitasking, widescreen video, Synergy-based PIM syncing, etc.). However, there are several little things the Centro can do that the Pre cannot...yet. For example, here's a short list of functions that come to mind as missing on the Pre (although I'm entirely optimistic that all these minor issues will be resolved in due time, either by Palm or by a developer):
    • Can't copy text or images from websites and emails (the browser and email app don't permit that).
    • Controlling the email client with keyboard shortcuts (I was a dedicated Snappermail user, which has very powerful keyboard commands to facilitate rapid processing of one's Inbox...the Pre is missing all that and relies entirely on gestures and on-screen button presses, which are slower).
    • Heavy customization via 3rd party apps/hacks (For example, one app I always used on my Treos and Centro was KeyCaps600, which let you capitalize a letter when typing by using a long key press and get the symbol for a key by hitting it twice quickly. That's an incredibly convenient function and one I still miss dearly on the Pre).
    • Video recording. Why is that not enabled on the Pre? It has a much better camera and loads more storage space than my Centro...so why no video recording?
    • Miscellaneous settings (e.g., font size) in most apps
    • Emoticons in chat (my wife and I both thought the ones on Palm OS were cute...why'd they go away?)
    • Universal search into email messages, calendar events, tasks, and memos (this seems like a pretty obvious "to be added" item on Palm's engineering checklist)

5. The camera is WONDERFUL. I use the camera on my phone a lot...over a thousand photos in my personal collection show up as having been taken on a Pre or Centro. The 3-megapixel camera (with LED flash, even) on the Pre is terrific. Here's a shot I took out my front door just now as an example:

6. So far, I miss my expansion storage slot much less than I thought I would. I always used the SD card in my Treos very heavily, such as for capturing photos and video, storing off-board apps, and keeping some media handy. One use case where I missed it so far was when I wanted to copy a bunch of photos I took with the Pre's camera to my PC. I had to break out the USB cable, which I don't always have with me. Before, I could just pop out the SD or MicroSD card and insert that into my PC's card reader. Maybe they're equally convenient, but my laptop has an SD card reader built in, yet I'd have to carry a microUSB cable with me to connect the Pre. One offsetting feature the Pre has is the ability to upload to photo-sharing websites, such as Photobucket and Facebook, directly from the photo viewer. My Centro could kinda-sorta do that with Facebook, but not as simply and elegantly as the Pre does.

7. It's a really FUN device to use. The UI is gorgeous and nearly everything is quite intuitive, so it's no problem getting the hang of operating the phone. I can hand it to people and most can do whatever they like with minimal intervention/instruction from me. Getting it back from them is usually the hardest part. :-)

8. Unified IM/SMS is quite nice. Being able to easily switch back and forth between IM (e.g., Google Talk or AIM) and texting/SMS is nifty, especially since it shows each of your contacts as a threaded "conversation" regardless of how each message was sent or received.

9. Battery life could be better. I've found some settings (e.g., set email polling to "as messages arrive" to rely on push rather than an "every 15 minutes" type pull) that give better performance for me and am now able to get through a full day with room to spare on the battery meter. I can't go 2 days like I did with the Centro, but I tend to charge nightly anyway. Given all the tech the Pre has that the Centro doesn't (e.g., Wi-Fi, 8GB of RAM, GPS, an HVGA screen, etc.), yet they use the same 1150mAh battery, it's not surprising that the Pre's battery life is a bit worse. But that just gives me an excuse to get one of those nifty Touchstone wireless chargers. And, hey, at least I can swap in a new battery in a pinch.

10. Included out-of-the-box is a pretty nice variety of apps. One I was especially surprised and pleased by is Sprint Navigation, which basically is all the best features of a GPS unit (e.g., real-time 3-D and 2-D mapping with street name pronunciation and multiple route calculation modes). But, there's so much potential here that I cannot WAIT for the flood of apps to hit once the webOS SDK is officially launched and Palm's App Catalog is opened to the public. Based on talking with some devs I know who have access to the SDK, it's really easy to get an app fleshed out and working, so I expect we'll see a small tidal wave of stuff come out in the latter parts of 2009. And that's about when Palm and Adobe should be bringing Flash support to the Pre, which will make some really interesting apps (especially games) possible.

Overall, based on about 2 weeks of having a Palm Pre in my pocket every day, I think it is a very, very promising piece of gear and webOS is poised to be a major platform for years to come. If you have specific questions about the user experience you'd like me to address in future posts, please leave a comment. And, if you're a Twitter user, you can catch some of my shorter comments about the Pre by following CRA1G. Thanks!

Sprint sent out a rather innocuous-looking notice dated February 16, which arrived at our house yesterday. Opening it reveals two interesting bits of information:

1) Sprint will be increasing the replacement fees it charges to its Total Equipment Protection (TEP) program customers based on a two-tier system; pricier phones, including all Palm devices (which, strangely, are listed under the old PalmOne brand), Blackberries, and assorted other smartphones are listed as Tier 2, meaning a $100 replacement fee (versus the $50 fee it previously charged). These changes go into effect April 19, 2009.

2) Listed among the PalmOne [sic] devices is a model I've not previously heard of: The "TREO Jones". Anyone have any idea what that is? My guess is that it's the forthcoming Treo Pro.

It's also interesting that they refer to the Palm Centro by its much less common name, the Treo 690p, which seems odd for a document meant to be read by non-technical customers.

Sloppy work, Sprint...and disappointing.

As a longtime ClearSync subscriber (see my review of ClearSync 1.0 from 2006 here), I was excited when John Tanner, the company's CEO, announced that a ClearSync client for Chumby was forthcoming.

Remember Chumby, that quirky, plush nightstand/desk/kitchen counter companion that streams Internet content to its touchscreen? Chumby is an ideal device for places where you need access to online content but where a laptop just doesn't fit or is "too much" machine (not that I'm sure that's ever possible). To the right is Chumby on my bedside table.

Here's a screenshot of what ClearSync on Chumby looks like:

You get access to some key ClearSync Calendars features, including:
• Viewing multiple calendars in a single, color-coded view
• The ability to enable/disable any combination of calendars
• Date selection (just tap the time/date header to bring up a calendar-style date picker)
• Automatic cloud-sync with your online/handheld calendar updates

Those of you who live and die by your daily calendar know how critical it is to always have it within arm's reach. Now, it can be right in front of you at all times, even when you're sleeping (which is important if you're like me and have literally woken up in the middle of the night in a mild panic because you can't remember what time an important meeting is the next day).

ClearSync for Chumby is available for free to all ClearSync subscribers who own Chumbys.

If you're just as curious as I was how all the press coverage of Palm's Pre / webOS launch was so overwhelmingly positive, watch the entire presentation on Palm's website and you'll soon see why everyone loved it.

Today at CES 2009 in Las Vegas, Palm launched their new mobile operating system, webOS, and promised the first device running webOS, the "Pre" smartphone, will be available on Sprint sometime in the first half of 2009. Exact timing depends at least partly on FCC and carrier certification, but you can bet Sprint will be eager to get this thing into its stores.

Some key features of the new webOS, according to Palm's presentation:
• Apps can developed using just CSS, HTML, and/or JavaScript
• Multi-tasking
• Internet-centric, integrated throughout all functions (e.g., search)
• Synergy technology combines contacts from online accounts (e.g., Facebook, Gmail) and local applications (e.g., Outlook), aggregates and syncs them on the phone, and eliminates duplicates
• All-new multi-instance web browser (buh-bye, Blazer)
• A notifications bar
• Integrated SMS and IM (via Synergy)

The Pre smartphone lists some impressive hardware specs:
• 320x480 HVGA multi-touch screen
• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• Rollerball for one-handed input
• 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP wireless audio
• 8GB of internal flash memory (can act as USB host)
• Texas Instruments' latest OMAP processor
• GPS
• EV-DO Rev. A
• Full-sized 3.5mm headphone jack
• 3MP camera with flash
• Removable battery (take that, Apple!)

And to just round out the wow factor, the Pre will come with be compatible with an optional wireless charger. Yes, wireless charger. You won't "plug in" the Pre, you'll just sit it on the Touchstone charging base and, through the magic of inductive power transmission, the phone will be recharged.

All in all, a very impressive new offering for Palm. If they can execute on this and get it into Sprint's stores quickly, they'll be well-positioned for a comeback.

Here's the full press release.

Each year, we at GearBits post some predictions for the coming year. And then, in the interest of honesty, fairness, and self-deprecation, we take a look back to see how we did. Each of our predictions for 2008 are listed below, along with an update on what actually happened.

1) Blu-Ray Wins the Format War
Yep, I'm going to pick a winner and it's going to be Blu-Ray. The one-two punch of Warner Brothers's move to Blu-Ray exclusivity (from its Switzerland-like neutrality of supporting both formats) later in 2008 and Apple's announcement that BD will be the only HD format available in its products will cement HD DVD's demise. And none too soon. I don't really care which wins...just make it snappy so that prices on players and media can plummet, thanks.

As of now, the end of 2008, it seems like forever since Blu-Ray trounced HD DVD in the format war. But back in early January, it was anyone's guess. But then, on February 18th, Toshiba officially threw in the towel. Interestingly, the Warner Bros. move I thought would happen eventually was actually announced the day after I posted my predictions. Of course, Apple hasn't yet released any products with any form of HD optical drive, so that bit wasn't exactly spot on. And I'm still waiting for my $99 Blu-Ray player. But, overall, this prediction looks pretty solid.

2) Google's Android Shakes Up Phone Industry
For a while now, the cellphone industry has been fairly static. A few smartphone and mobile OS makers have generally tussled for market share, but the overall industry has been pretty evolutionary. Google's entry will prove to be a watershed moment, with open source finally making a big impact in the handheld space (and no, I don't consider the Zaurus to be a big deal...sorry). Actual handsets running Android will be announced, if not available, before the end of 2008.

Depending on your threshold for "shaking up" the phone industry, I think most people would agree that Android made quite a splash in 2008 when the HTC G1 was launched on T-Mobile in the US on September 23rd. And we've already heard of around a dozen hardware makers signed on to release Android handsets. While handset sales still pale in comparison to the iPhone, 2009 looks like it just might be the year of the Android.

3) Palm Supports Android
This is more of a hope than an actual prediction, as I just don't know whether the egos at Palm will let the company do the right thing and admit that their next-generation OS (which has been under development since 2004!) will be a viable contender against Android (which has essentially the same technical details but scads more developer support). But, if cooler, more rational heads prevail at Palm, they'll announce that they're plans will be to produce at least one Android-based product (probably to come out sometime in 2012 :-/ ).

Ouch...I couldn't have been more wrong. While I still think Palm would have been smart to advance their product refurbishment by a full year (maybe more) by going with Android instead of continuing to pursue Nova, the company stuck to its original, go-it-alone plans. We'll see how well that pans out in 2009.

4) Microsoft's HD Photo Replacement for JPEG Image Standard Goes Nowhere
I'm not saying it's a bad idea technically; I'm just saying that JPEG is so entrenched now that replacing it would be about as reasonable a thing to try as would be replacing MP3 with any of the multitudes of better formats. JPEG, like MP3, isn't great, but it's adequate (at least for consumers) and ubiquitous. We'll still be saving all our photos in JPG (and maybe RAW) at the end of 2008...and likely long after that.

JPEG XR, the official name of Microsoft's HD Photo format, has generated essentially zero traction in the camera industry. Part of that is Microsoft's less-than-swift transition of JPEG XR into its quasi-open licensing portfolio, a move that will have to happen for camera makers and developers to trust that they won't be bitten by huge licensing fees in the future if they move their products away from RAW to JPEG XR.

5) Subnotes Will Explode in Availability (and Maybe Popularity)
I've always been a fan of tiny, sub-3-pound laptops, but I think 2008 will see a huge number of these clamshell devices come out of every corner of the consumer electronics space. The Asus EeePC and the OLPC XO Laptop are two examples. While Microsoft had a good idea in its UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC) concept, the hardware was just never executed all that well. Frankly, I think a 7" touchscreen for Windows is just too difficult. But, going with the traditional clamshell design and using cheaper and/or smaller technologies (e.g., flash memory instead of a HDD) will bring us a raft of interesting (and some good) designs at <$500 price points. Bring 'em on! And I think we'll start to see a lot more people toting these things along that traditionally avoided laptops for whatever reason (cost, weight, etc.).

Bingo. If the shelves at Best Buy and Circuit City are any indication, these "netbooks" (the now-favored term...at least by everyone except Psion) have multiplied faster than Tribbles on Cialis. One glance at the huuuge list of netbooks over at small-notebooks.com is enough evidence to suggest that this prediction was spot on.

6) The GPS War Heats Up
TomTom, Nokia, and Garmin will exchange hostile fire over the GPS market due to convuluted agreements regarding mapping data as well as market-share for hardware. Products will continue to decline in price and improve in functionality, and >50% of cellphones will have some form of GPS functionality available on them. I guess that's two predictions in one...oh well.

I'm going to give myself this one. While we haven't heard that much more about the complex licensing agreements involving the big three, you need only walk through a Staples, Radio Shack, or Target to see a vast assortment of portable GPS units now available for under $150, most even having text-to-speech and other advanced functions. That's in direct comparison to late last year, when it was difficult to find a decent unit for under $300.

7) DRM Hits Choppy Water
2007 saw some movement away from DRM (digital rights management), especially in the music industry, but I expect we'll see similar initiatives in all areas of media. DRM has been proven again and again to be little more than an expensive technological boondoggle, and the leading innovators at the consumer media interface (e.g., Apple, Amazon, and Google) will make some headway into reversing the trend of more encumbrance for our media. The RIAA and MPAA will continue to fight it...they know how to do nothing else...but economic results will start to demonstrate that DRM actually hurts profitability.

Nope...we didn't hear much consistent with my prediction. While some markets moved towards offering DRM-free downloads, most are still heavily laden. And the RIAA actually reversed its strategy and is now no longer suing everyone and their mother for alleged downloading. So that's two different ways I was off on this one. Just goes to show that there's no telling what the content owners are thinking.

8) Major Tech Stocks End 2008 Up Significantly
These are bound to be wrong, but what the heck...nobody pays me for stock tips. I think Apple will end 2008 at 235, Google will be at 960, and Microsoft will finish the year at 50. As for other stocks, iRobot will end up at either 46 or 12 (can you tell I'm a cynical shareholder?), IBM will show tepid growth to 112, and RIM, hurt by the continued weak US dollar and facing increasing competition, will struggle to match its 1-year high of 127.

Uh, no. While I doubt many saw the massive downturn in stocks coming, tech stocks are decidedly not even slightly better off than most. Let's see how my specific price predictions held up:
  • Apple (AAPL): Predicted = 235; Actual = 86.29
  • Google (GOOG): Predicted = 960; Actual = 303.11
  • Microsoft (MSFT): Predicted = 50; Actual = 19.34
  • iRobot (IRBT): Predicted = 46 or 12; Actual = 8.95
  • IBM (IBM): Predicted = 112; Actual = 83.55
  • Research in Motion (RIMM): Predicted = 127; Actual = 38.77
In summary, do not ask me to manage your stock portfolio...you would be better served by setting your money on fire, as then you could at least stay warm for a while.

9) I Buy a New Laptop and Am Disappointed
My Panasonic CF-W2 is now three-and-a-half-years-old and I'm starting to cringe every time I turn it on (my luck with hard drives makes me skeptical of many living past their 4th birthday). I've been looking at possible replacements (e.g., Toshiba R500, Panasonic W7, maybe the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 or the rumored Apple subnote) and so far every single one has some significant trade-offs. So, I expect I'll get one and it will turn out to be not significantly better than my aging Toughbook. You'd think in nearly four years that two grand would buy something markedly superior. We'll see...

Unfortunately, I was right on this. The Fujitsu LifeBook P8010 I ended up purchasing in February is a good laptop...don't get me wrong. It's just not a heads-and-shoulders better laptop than my ToughBook was, and that's what I was expecting given the nearly 4 years newer technology and the $2500 it cost. And, given that I've already had to send it in for a repair (the power button broke off), I'm guessing the durability won't even come close to that of the Panasonic (which I still use regularly around the house).

10) Major Changes in Automotive Industry Announced
While the car business makes actual change only very slowly, we'll see some huge announcements in 2008 that will fundamentally change the future of that industry. Things like record oil prices, an increasing attention to sustainable/green technology, and significant ownership changes will substantially change the competitive landscape. Make no mistake; Toyota will continue its ascent and eclipse GM as #1 car-maker in the world. But, we will see several major announcements that will start affecting actual consumers in 2009 and beyond.

While I didn't get the stock predictions exactly right (OK, not even close), I think it's safe to say that the US automotive industry has been shaken up with major changes during 2008. We saw record oil prices (check!), more attention to green tech (check!), and the bottom dropping out of US consumption didn't leave them anywhere to go except to the Congress for help. And Toyota did indeed become the biggest carmaker in the world in 2008, just as predicted. Let's hope the Volt truly is something special...for all our sakes.

So, there you have it: our final score is 7 winners and 3 losers. I'll take it. :-)

In a couple of days, I'll be posting GearBits' predictions for 2009, so make sure you come back and check those out, m'kay?

In some ways, my German heritage makes me a penny pincher and a tech laggard. For example, I finally bought my first digital television to make sure the guests can watch football over the Thanksgiving holidays. (A cheap 46" Sharp AQUOS LC-46C55U 1080p 60Hz LCD from Costco.)

Step 1 Buy TV. Check!
Step 2, Order FiOS HD DVR box. (I'm too cheap to buy a HD Tivo, at least for now.) Arrived in 24 hours! Check. Hey, this FiOS "On Demand" is nice. Save that topic for another blog post.
Step 3, Hook up computer for 46" home office monitor goodness. Doh! My wired keyboard looks terrible here. Time to go cordless.

What's up with all these wireless keyboard and mouse combos? Who can mouse well on a couch? Wireless mouse at a desk, sure. But Wireless keyboard at a desk? Are cables inherently evil? If you're at a desk, use a corded keyboard and save some batteries.

I'm an unashamed ThinkPad trackpoint fanboy, but I can't find wireless keyboard with a trackpoint. Bummer. I'm stuck with either a trackpad or a trackball. The Logitech diNovo Edge looks extemely cool, but (a) it's pricey, (b) needs space to sit and charge in a cradle and (c) some people don't like its touchdisc whatzit.

DiNovo Edge touch disc?

Then I happened across this Logitech PS3 Mediaboard Pro. No "keyboard" in the product name, so it didn't show up on many of my earlier product searches. Don't be scared by the "PS3" -- it also supports PCs over Bluetooth.

While it looks only 2/3 as cool as the diNovo Edge, it's 1/3 the price of the Edge, doesn't need a charging cradle, and received good reviews. People even liked the Mediaboard's trackpad. "One click" on Amazon, and here it comes.

Did I screw up ordering this? Chime in if you have a favorite media keyboard.

Logitech PS3 Mediaboard Pro

Another medical professional has come out publicly warning those who will listen that cellphones may cause cancer. Or they may not. They're not sure, but why risk it, right?

"I don't know that cell phones are dangerous. But I don't know that they are safe."
   -- Devra Lee Davis, Director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Environmental Oncology

Next week, the University of Pittsburgh will be issuing warnings about the possible cancer-causing side effects of:
• Cheddar cheese
• Paperclips
• Lingering too long in the grocery's produce aisle
• Sudoku
• Your aunt's meatloaf (actually, that's probably true), and
• Reading medical news stories late at night

Check out the full article (CNN.com)

I opened up my Sprint PCS bill to find an $18 charge described as "Handset upgrade fee." Wha?

Sure, last month, a few weeks after our 2-year indentured servitude contract with the carrier ended (we're now month-to-month), my wife needed a new phone. We got her a new Centro and paid full price for it because I didn't want to go back under contract. But nobody said anything about a fee just for buying a new phone.

So I called up Sprint customer service this morning and, after discussing it with both the rep and her manager, they basically told me there was nothing they could do about it (at which point I asked why they were called "customer service") and that I'd have to go back to the store to argue about the charge.

Who in their right minds would insult a customer who isn't under an active contract (i.e., who is free to leave for a competitor at the drop of a hat) by asking for an extra $18 on top of the $300 he just spent in your store, especially given that he's already paying you nearly $100 a month? And why, oh why, would you trust some random clerk in some random store to salvage what is a very profitable, long-term relationship when the customer has already taken the time to call your service department and talk to you?

It all clearly reminded me why Sprint is nearly universally loathed by its customers and former customers alike.

I then dragged myself into the local Sprint store, girding for yet another fruitless battle over $18. At this point, it wasn't so much the money as it was the principle. Surprisingly, after a 30-second explanation, the store rep said, "Oh, no, that's a mistake...I'll take it right off." And that was that. Awesome.

So, while all's well that ends well, this little experience reminded me quite clearly why I didn't renew my contract with Sprint. Any company who makes such poor decisions about how it manages its customer relationships does not adequately desire, or deserve, my patronage. When the new Android devices, or whatever else that satisfies my requirements, come out, I'll be ready, and eager, to switch carriers as needed.

I apologize for the recent 3 days of GearBits.com outage. The cause was my shift from an old Netgear 802.11g router/access point to a shiny new Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n router.

The problems were several, but suffice to say that the main unresolved issue lays in the AE's inability to suck down DHCP information from my ISP. Is it the AE's fault or my ISP's fault? I don't know...it just doesn't work. So, after figuring that out and entering in all the data manually, I now have to reset the broadband modem each time I update the router's configuration.

Sure it's a pain-in-the-ass, but now we have 802.11n (my laptop says it's connected at 144mbps) and I'll soon be adding an external drive to the AE for some inexpensive NAS action.

Anyway, things are back up and they should pretty much stay that way until I switch out the webserver sometime in the next week or so (the 5+-year-old WinXP machine, which is powered by a 1.2GHz AMD Athlon with 512 megs of RAM will soon be replaced by a new dual-core Mac Mini, so the site should be a bit more responsive).

So, sorry again...I'll now return you to your arguments over how much Time Warner Cable sucks, griping about FedEx Smartpost, and reminiscing about TV shows from your childhood.

Mitch, seeing my Hot/Not list from yesterday, compiled his own, so here it is:

HOT

• iPod Touch - I tried the Archos 605 Wi-Fi first and its mediocrity makes the Touch that much more delightful. I really love well done user interfaces and this one is first rate. My only complaint is its picky eating habits when it comes to video formats.
  
• iMac - I waited longer than any other tech purchase to finally go with Apple's all-in-one desktop PC. I opted for the top of the line 3.06 GHz 24" model and have been completely blown away by it. So far I have found no flaws. It is stunning.
  
• High Gas Prices - Innovation rocks and if it takes $5/gallon gasoline to get us out of this oil addiction then I'm more than willing to pay my dues. Fewer SUVs and pickups, electric cars, solar energy, alternative fuels, more big butts on bicycles, less traffic congestion; I'm all for it. Let's drop our consumption by half and let OPEC drink their devalued crude.
  
• Synology - A NAS will soon be as ubiquitous on a home network as the router is today. The clever, feature-filled offerings from Synology are the best of the breed. I'll have a DS508 please!
  
• Subaru - Totally agree with Craig here. I've been
  in Imprezas now going on six years and I still feel like I'm cheating when I share the road with normal cars. Scoobys are fabulous.
  
• Ken Follett's Historical Novels - "The Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End" are two of my favorite books of all time and I just took them in this Spring. I listened to both on my iPod (over 40 hours each) after downloading them from Audible and they made a month of 1000 mile weekly commutes totally enjoyable. Masterful stuff.
  
• CrossFit - I was in good shape 20 years ago and at 44 I can wipe the floor with my 24 year old self (if that was possible). I've been CrossFitting for almost a year now and some of the things I can do now would have seemed outlandish back then.

NOT

• General Motors - If you Google dinosaur, out of touch, lethargic, and unimaginative you should pull up GM's home page. I used to be a fan, but they have been disappointing me for 25 years now and don't seem to be planning any big changes. The sooner they finish themselves off, the better off we'll be.
  
• Labor Unions - Working in the industrial world I cross paths with unions
  of all sorts way more than I would like. I completely understand why our manufacturing sector is fleeing to other countries. I have never seen such a lazy, selfish, destructive, regressive bunch of people in my life. They can't all be like that, but the ones I've met surely are.
  
• Sheeple-Filled Corporate IT Departments - My 26,000 strong corporation is going to switch to Vista because they don't want to be left with no anti-virus support for their XP platform. Goodbye nice warm frying pan and hello fire.
  
• Cable/Satellite TV - I'm SO tired of paying $80 a month for a bunch of
  garbage that I would never watch even if I had the time. It won't be long until I cut that cord and start rolling my own TV. If I could just decide which way I want to do it!
  
• Global Markets - I realize that even the lowliest trader in/on most investment banks/trading floors/commodities exchanges is smarter than I am, but I would really love to see them use those brains rather than run with every emotion that riffles through the world markets. Do investors even pay attention to P/E ratios or supply and demand or is it all about what the hot analyst is saying or the sheeple are doing?

I've been remiss on posting, so I thought I'd assemble a whole mess of opinions in one place. Over the past several weeks or so, I've come to appreciate some things/companies and have come to be disappointed in others. So, here's a quick run-down:

HOT

• Shutterfly - always gets me great-looking prints/books in a timely manner at low prices.
  
• Google - just keeps rolling out the innovative, useful, and well-designed web apps
  
• Subaru - they just make terrific cars...durable, high-performing, and affordable
  
• Amazon.com - with reasonably good, if not great, prices, excellent customer service, and a stellar website, what's not to like?
  
• Subnotes - The sudden rash of low-power, low-weight, cheap laptops coming out (which I predicted would happen back at the beginning of the year) is a joy to behold...portable computing for everyone!
  
• NPR - Always informative, enjoyable, and worth supporting.
  
• Logitech Cordless Presenter - Have had it for two years now, am still on the first set of AAA batteries, it has taken tons of abuse, and it still works perfectly. Amazing!
  
• Private Electric Car Companies - It's as if we're on the cusp of another time like the 1920's, when every town seemed to have a local car manufacturer, except now they're all electric, hybrid, or alterna-fuel vehicles (a very good thing).

NOT

• Archos - if my 605 Wi-Fi completely hangs on me one more time, I swear I'm going to chuck it off an overpass (I'll post more about this later)
  
• Palm - if my Treo 700p resets on me one more time, I swear I'm going to chuck...aw, who am I kidding? It'll probably reset before I finish this post. C'mon Android...fill this void in my gadget-hoarding soul, will you?
  
• Megalomaniacal Corporate IT Departments - I hope the day comes soon when we can definitively show that the TCO actually improves when you let corporate tech users select their own personal devices.
  
• Flash memory format proliferation - I mean, seriously, do we really need SD, MiniSD, and MicroSD? It's getting as bad as the dang Memory Stick (and that's saying something).
  
• Download-only music stores - I may be in the minority, but I just don't like the DRM associated with most online music stores. And even without the DRM, the cost seems too much if I'm not getting permanent physical media, liner notes/art, etc. Call me old school if you like...go ahead, it only hurts a little.
  
• Intel's Marketing department - Seriously, guys, could you make keeping track of your product lines any more difficult and confusing?
  
• Getting older - I am no longer the kid I still think of myself as being.
  

So what are your Hot and Not?

T-Mobile is being a collective asshat. It's threatening to sue Engadget by claiming, ridiculously enough, that the website is infringing on T-Mobile's use of the color magenta.

So, GearBits is painting itself magenta for the day in an act of solidarity against such stupid abuse of intellectual property laws.

My employer consolidated the management of cell phones and plans, forcing me to abandon my Treo 650 for a Blackberry 8830. Yeah, I know. The Blackberry vs random other brand mobile phone here comparison post is way too overdone. You don't need me to tell you the differences.

This isn't one of those posts.

At first I got ticked. It's not just the money down the tubes or the time invested. It was a bit like being dumped. It's been a few months, and I still miss using my Treo.

Some of my remaining Treo co-workers haven't been forced to move yet. But as some make the move, most seem to be expressing similar concerns and reach out to the Treo group to vent and support.

It may be obvious to you, but I'm still not sure why I (and other folks) get so attached to some of these devices.

We just got a Logitech Squeezebox Duet, the new low(er)-cost competitor to the rather amazing Sonos wireless music streaming system, and I thought I'd post some shots of its debut at our house.

We got the Squeezebox primarily to replace the SMC Networks EZ-Stream SMCWAA-G that no longer seems to want to work properly (I constantly have to unplug it and plug it back in repeatedly when starting it up before it will recognize the network and respond to remote control signals). But then sometimes even a bargain is worth less than what you pay for it.

At $399, the Squeezebox Duet certainly isn't cheap, but it's still $200 less than a comparable Sonos setup. Plus, unlike the Sonos, the Squeezebox benefits from Slim Devices' (which Logitech acquired in late 2006) rabid developer community, so there's tons of nifty extensions and add-ons.

Click on the "continue reading" link for more pics and some initial reactions in lieu of a full review.

The 605 WiFi, a fifth-generation portable media player from the French electronics firm Archos, is an impressive device. It boasts a vivid, high-res 4.3" touchscreen, 802.11g Wi-Fi (more on that later), and the ability to handle a reasonably broad array of media formats (although the larger, more expensive Cowon A3 handles far more). Plus, the 605 WiFi is available with hard drives of 30, 80, and 160 gigabytes or with 4GB of flash storage (the flash model also sports an SDHC slot for unlimited expansion). This review focuses on the 4GB flash version, which can be had for under $200 online and at a few brick-and-mortar electronics retailers.

Over two years ago, I initiated a general plea for a gPhone. Apparently, PalmSolo has witnessed the answer to my request at MWC08.

Check out his photos and video of HTC's gPhone, an Android test mule, in action (via ZD Net)

I'm fairly certain that my 700p will be my last Treo and that something running Android will be my next smartphone. Now if I can just go another 8-9 months...

As has become customary around the changing of the calendar, here are GearBits' official predictions for 2008.

1) Blu-Ray Wins the Format War
Yep, I'm going to pick a winner and it's going to be Blu-Ray. The one-two punch of Warner Brothers's move to Blu-Ray exclusivity (from its Switzerland-like neutrality of supporting both formats) later in 2008 and Apple's announcement that BD will be the only HD format available in its products will cement HD DVD's demise. And none too soon. I don't really care which wins...just make it snappy so that prices on players and media can plummet, thanks.

2) Google's Android Shakes Up Phone Industry
For a while now, the cellphone industry has been fairly static. A few smartphone and mobile OS makers have generally tussled for market share, but the overall industry has been pretty evolutionary. Google's entry will prove to be a watershed moment, with open source finally making a big impact in the handheld space (and no, I don't consider the Zaurus to be a big deal...sorry). Actual handsets running Android will be announced, if not available, before the end of 2008.

3) Palm Supports Android
This is more of a hope than an actual prediction, as I just don't know whether the egos at Palm will let the company do the right thing and admit that their next-generation OS (which has been under development since 2004!) will be a viable contender against Android (which has essentially the same technical details but scads more developer support). But, if cooler, more rational heads prevail at Palm, they'll announce that they're plans will be to produce at least one Android-based product (probably to come out sometime in 2012 :-/ ).

4) Microsoft's HD Photo Replacement for JPEG Image Standard Goes Nowhere
I'm not saying it's a bad idea technically; I'm just saying that JPEG is so entrenched now that replacing it would be about as reasonable a thing to try as would be replacing MP3 with any of the multitudes of better formats. JPEG, like MP3, isn't great, but it's adequate (at least for consumers) and ubiquitous. We'll still be saving all our photos in JPG (and maybe RAW) at the end of 2008...and likely long after that.

5) Subnotes Will Explode in Availability (and Maybe Popularity)
I've always been a fan of tiny, sub-3-pound laptops, but I think 2008 will see a huge number of these clamshell devices come out of every corner of the consumer electronics space. The Asus EeePC and the OLPC XO Laptop are two examples. While Microsoft had a good idea in its UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC) concept, the hardware was just never executed all that well. Frankly, I think a 7" touchscreen for Windows is just too difficult. But, going with the traditional clamshell design and using cheaper and/or smaller technologies (e.g., flash memory instead of a HDD) will bring us a raft of interesting (and some good) designs at <$500 price points. Bring 'em on! And I think we'll start to see a lot more people toting these things along that traditionally avoided laptops for whatever reason (cost, weight, etc.).

6) The GPS War Heats Up
TomTom, Nokia, and Garmin will exchange hostile fire over the GPS market due to convuluted agreements regarding mapping data as well as market-share for hardware. Products will continue to decline in price and improve in functionality, and >50% of cellphones will have some form of GPS functionality available on them. I guess that's two predictions in one...oh well.

7) DRM Hits Choppy Water
2007 saw some movement away from DRM (digital rights management), especially in the music industry, but I expect we'll see similar initiatives in all areas of media. DRM has been proven again and again to be little more than an expensive technological boondoggle, and the leading innovators at the consumer media interface (e.g., Apple, Amazon, and Google) will make some headway into reversing the trend of more encumbrance for our media. The RIAA and MPAA will continue to fight it...they know how to do nothing else...but economic results will start to demonstrate that DRM actually hurts profitability.

8) Major Tech Stocks End 2008 Up Significantly
These are bound to be wrong, but what the heck...nobody pays me for stock tips. I think Apple will end 2008 at 235, Google will be at 960, and Microsoft will finish the year at 50. As for other stocks, iRobot will end up at either 46 or 12 (can you tell I'm a cynical shareholder?), IBM will show tepid growth to 112, and RIM, hurt by the continued weak US dollar and facing increasing competition, will struggle to match its 1-year high of 127.

9) I Buy a New Laptop and Am Disappointed
My Panasonic CF-W2 is now three-and-a-half-years-old and I'm starting to cringe every time I turn it on (my luck with hard drives makes me skeptical of many living past their 4th birthday). I've been looking at possible replacements (e.g., Toshiba R500, Panasonic W7, maybe the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 or the rumored Apple subnote) and so far every single one has some significant trade-offs. So, I expect I'll get one and it will turn out to be not significantly better than my aging Toughbook. You'd think in nearly four years that two grand would buy something markedly superior. We'll see...

10) Major Changes in Automotive Industry Announced
While the car business makes actual change only very slowly, we'll see some huge announcements in 2008 that will fundamentally change the future of that industry. Things like record oil prices, an increasing attention to sustainable/green technology, and significant ownership changes will substantially change the competitive landscape. Make no mistake; Toyota will continue its ascent and eclipse GM as #1 car-maker in the world. But, we will see several major announcements that will start affecting actual consumers in 2009 and beyond.

So, I'll check back in about 12 months to see how I fared. In the meantime, what do you think will happen?

For the past four years, I've relied on 802.11g Wi-Fi to get our router's Internet connection up to the second floor office where this web-server and our main PC both live. When we first moved into this house, I had come to the conclusion that there was no way I could route Ethernet cable from the first to the second floor (and across the width of the house) without doing something that She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed would find objectionable.

So, after trying out three routers and countless Wi-Fi adapters looking for adequate range, reliability, and speed, I sunk into the belief that I was destined to put up with wildly fluctuating network speeds (often bouncing between 1 and 8 mbps realized throughput), intermittent connectivity loss (e.g., temporary wireless interference), and a generally unsatisfactory level of network performance.

Then, for no good reason, last week I revisited the idea of having an electrician run Cat-6 from where our router is to the upstairs office. I had always assumed it was prohibitively expensive, but figured getting an estimate couldn't hurt.

Wow! I was simply amazed when the job was done and I was no poorer than had I bought a new 802.11n router and PCI adapter for one computer. For a couple hundred dollars, we now have Gigabit Ethernet connecting our entire network. Granted, the Internet connection still trundles along at 3 mbps, but file transfers within the network (e.g., LAN backups and media copying) are blindingly fast.

So, if you're sick of mucking around with Wi-Fi for networking desktop PCs and other devices that don't move around a lot within your home, consider having an electrician give you an estimate on running some Ethernet cable. You may be surprised at how cheap it actually is (might be less expensive than buying some faster Wi-Fi gear and it's a LOT faster, reliable, and more secure). Make sure to get Cat-6 cable installed so you can be sure to take advantage of the new networking standards coming down the pike in a few years. You don't want to have to go about replacing wire inside your walls, and the better cable is only a few cents a foot more expensive (ours was 30 cents a foot).

Today, Palm announced its new Foleo smartphone companion (shown, next to the Treo). You can learn about it at the Palm website and read some first impressions here, here, and here.

I'm going to reserve judgment on the Foleo until I get some hands-on time with it (you hear that, Palm? Bump me up a few spots on the review unit list, will ya?). It has some interesting points, but I'll admit to being skeptical that the market for this device exceeds a few thousand people.

But it did get me thinking just what would have been a better product (or products) to announce today that would have served a similar purpose (i.e., extending the usefulness of a smartphone like the Treo...or the iPhone)? Here are some ideas that I've seen proposed various places today:

1) Linux-Powered Tablet Treo -- Combine the radio and multimedia functions of a Treo with all the open-source goodness of a Linux kernel and a big touchscreen display.

2) Bluetooth Virtual Display -- Giving the user a better bigscreen view of her Treo's data while only adding a few ounces to her bag seems like an interesting idea. Just one question, though: How do you interact with the Treo if your eyes are blocked by the display?

3) Clamshell Treo -- Proposed by the many who wish the Treo's 2.5" square display was a shade larger yet still pocketable, a clamshell Treo could even have two displays (a la Nintendo's DS) for double the productivity.

4) A Universal Treo-Laptop Interface -- Some have suggested that what Palm really needs to offer is a piece of hardware that would connect a Treo to any PC's USB port and automatically broker data and Internet sharing between the two devices. Imagine a continuous "smart" syncing between the two devices so that the PC could be used as an interface to the Treo's contents, or vice versa.

What's your suggestion? What should Palm have released instead of the Foleo? Or do you think it really is a viable new product category?

Like you, probably, I'm constantly facing "yet another technology decision" at home. This time, it's storage; my main external USB backup drive is running out of space and I need to figure out a solution. But, it just as easily could have been another episode of "there has to be a better media streamer" or the umpteenth round of "my, my, LCD monitors are getting cheap...maybe it makes sense to finally replace my CRT."

But this backup issue haunts me. It seems I am never able to get enough storage in the right place to last for very long. As if I were a gas, merrily following my Brownian ways, I tend to fill up whatever volume (pun intended) I'm given. And that line of thinking made me realize that my home technology infrastructure is the result of countless incremental changes, most being opportunistic or cost-driven and very few (if any) made with a larger, long-term strategy in mind.

So what would I do if I could scrap everything I have and start fresh? Would I go with a Drobo attached to an Apple Airport Extreme to create a massively upgradable NAS, or would I go with a Microsoft Windows Home Server? Would I change everything on my wireless network over to 802.11n? Would I even have a desktop anywhere in the house (other than a Mac Mini to use as a media center PC)?

All those are entertaining issues to mull over, but the reality is that few of us have the money or time to toss out everything and start fresh. I mean, financial implications aside, how freaking long would it take to get all that new kit functioning correctly? My head reels at the thought.

So, I'm back to my issue of a 500GB USB HDD being inadequate as my main backup unit. Should I just go get a 750GB and buy some time, or should I invest in a longer-term solution at a considerably higher price? Decisions, decisions...

Over the weekend on a work trip, the headset jack on my 700p started acting up and the unit was going to have to be replaced.

When I went to my local Sprint store Tuesday evening, they told me, sorry...I would have to go to a special Sprint store that had a technician in it. The nearest one was several miles away.

So, today, at 11:30am, I show up at the Sprint store. I wait 20 minutes just to talk to someone. I give him my phone to hand to the tech to verify that it was, indeed, a bad headset jack. 15 minutes later, the tech verifies that as the problem and says he can't fix it. No sweat, I say, since (a) it's still under Palm's 1-year warranty, and (b) I have the phone repair/replacement warranty on top of that. So, I expect them to hand me a replacement 700p.

Nope. Sales dude Jeff tells me that they have no Treo 700p's in stock and they have to get it from the warehouse, which takes 3-5 days. In the meantime, I will just have to use the wired headset whenever I want to make or receive a call or check my voicemail (which is the only way they'll alert me that my replacement phone is available).

However, I get back to my office today and call the store. I talk to sales dude Mike and ask if they have any 700p's in stock. He cheerily tells me that they have several 700p's in the store and to come on in and pick one up (they're open until 9pm!).

So, what's up, Sprint? I'm paying you nearly $100 a month plus a $6 per month replacement service fee just so you can make me wait an extra 3-5 days while you'll give a new customer my phone today? Sprint sucks.

It's really no wonder that a recent MSN-Zogby poll ranked Sprint as having the worst customer service across all industries. It's times like this that I really miss T-Mobile.

Update: I called Sprint's telephone support and they said they weren't sure why the store said what it did, but that I could go back to the store and ask to speak to the manager. Rather than driving clear up there again tonight, I called and was told that the phones in stock in the store were new phones and that they couldn't give out new phones for replacements (only refurbished models are available for existing customers). I asked the girl if she thought that giving better service to a potential Sprint customer (e.g., someone wanting to sign up for service and buy a 700p outright, who would be handed a new phone immediately) than a current Sprint customer (e.g., me) was the right thing to do. She said, "I'm not going to answer that." Yes, welcome to Sprint...ethics optional.

This is a review of the new Ziova Clearstream CS510 High-Definition Network Media Player. Ziova (nee Zensonic), a small Australian consumer electronics firm, announced this puppy at CES 2007, but just recently (i.e., last week) started shipping units out for review. After I submitted a review request to the company a few months ago, one landed on my doorstep on Friday and I put it through its paces over the past few days. Here are some initial thoughts.

First, what it is. The CS510 is a home A/V appliance that streams/plays content located on your home network (via Ethernet or 802.11b/g) or attached storage (USB 2.0) to your home theater (TV and/or stereo system). The CS510 differentiates itself from the unwashed masses of network media streamers by virtue of a few unique (or uncommon) features:
• It serves up HD-quality video output (720p and 1080i) and 5.1 surround sound
• It has the ability to play content directly from an attached mass storage device (i.e., no PC is needed to decode the content)
• It offers up Windows network browsing via SMB

I will not enumerate the unit's specs here because that information is available from the Ziova website: overview, features, and reasonably complete technical specs

Below are some photos of the CS510 hardware and screen shots of its on-screen interface and output (if some of the screen shots look a little off-kilter or skewed, realize that I simply took handheld snapshots of the TV...the CS510's output was always completely orthogonal ;-):

While at Target earlier today looking for something else entirely, I stumbled upon the VRFM3 FM Transmitter by Virtual Reality Sound Labs. What caught my eye about this FM transmitter is the fact that it will play MP3 and WMA files directly from either a flash drive inserted into its USB port or an Secure Digital (SD) card inserted into its SD slot (see below). Of course, there's also a line-in jack for transmitting audio from another source (e.g., an iPod or Treo), but this is the first unit I've seen to offer both USB and SD interfaces. So, excited by the prospect of easy, cheap, portable, and completely wire-free tunage for any car I happen to be in, I plunked down my $49.99 and headed home to put the VRFM9 through its paces.

After an initial test, I'm very impressed by how well this device works. It does exactly what you would expect, if not hope, it to do, which, unfortunately, seems to be a rarity in consumer electronics. Plus, even more a rarity are the extensive written instructions (including color diagrams) that came with the device.

First, I tried the typical external input mode with my Treo 700p as source. The VRFM9 automatically detects which source is hooked up (if music is available by more than one source, priority goes first to the external line-in, then to the USB port, then last to the SD card slot; the unit will only play music from one source) and transmits that via one of its 15 preset FM channels (8 in the low range and 7 in the high range...enough to satisfy nearly everyone nearly all the time). The two-line LCD (at right) offers some information about the FM channel being used, play mode (normal v. shuffle), source, etc. If the unit is playing an MP3 or WMA file straight off USB or SD card, it will display the artist and song title as well (assuming these tags are present in the audio file). It's a bit cryptic and not a lot of characters appear at once, but given that you likely won't be interacting a lot with this device, it's certainly adequate, if not surprisingly nice. One nice UI touch is that when you switch tracks or change the volume, the display changes to show extra-large characters (e.g., "011/045" to let you know you're on track 11 of 45 total tracks on that source) for enhanced readability.

Second, I tried a couple different SD cards. Both my 2GB and 4GB SD (not SDHC) cards worked fine. The VRFM9 will scan the card when inserted and start playing the first one it comes across. It appears to play in this order: (1) anything in the root directory, in alphabetical order by file name, (2) anything in sub-directories in alphabetical order by sub-directory, then by file name within each sub-directory. Of course, putting the unit in Shuffle mode randomizes play across all files in all directories. One odd thing I noticed was that the unit would attempt to play the two WMV files I had in one sub-directory, but it was unsuccessful as no sound was transmitted.

I then attempted to use the VRFM9 with a USB flash drive (specifically, the 4GB Patriot Xporter XT that I reviewed previously), but no joy. The unit displayed "No Source" with that USB drive. I'll hunt around for another one and give it a go when I get a chance. Another note regarding use with flash drives; not all will fit. Particularly fat flash drives may be too girthy to fit into the VRFM9's port. If there's an SD card inserted, this further reduces the space around the USB port. Most normal extension cables will work fine.

One interesting tidbit is that a USB flash card reader that mounts like an external drive will let the user effectively play music through the VRFM9 via any of the flash media formats the reader supports. But as above, music will be played from only one card at a time. I tried plugging in an external USB hard drive (full 120VAC 3.5" drive), but no dice...the unit didn't recognize that anything was plugged in to the USB port.

Controls on the unit are spartan but adequate. They all click nicely and the dual-function (click vs. hold) is reasonably intuitive.

Now, two minor complaints. First, even though the unit ratchets through about a 120-degree sweep, the LCD isn't particularly readable except at very direct angles. So, if your car's cigarette lighter/power socket is way off to the side of the center console, you may not have much luck reading the display while driving. Second, as with all FM transmitters, sound quality is not particularly good. After all, you're limited to the sound quality of FM radio, which isn't going to impress anyone. Audiophiles will want to look to other (and likely much more expensive) hardwired solutions for getting their portable audio broadcast through their cars' stereos.

Overall, I am quite impressed by this device. Not only does it do exactly what you think it should, it seems reasonably well made and is not terribly expensive. And, given that many people have at least one lower-capacity SD card or USB flash drive sitting in a drawer not doing anything, this makes for a very easy way to put it to work as a music sherpa for your car.

There are also some nice reviews of the VRFM9 over at Audioholics and Gizmos for Geeks if you're still on the fence or want more opinions.

Ever on the lookout for a more reliable replacement for our Omnifi DMS1, I nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw an ad for the SMCWAA-G Wireless Audio Adapter from SMC Networks (pictured to the right).

At first blush, the specs looked just about perfect based on the requirements I laid out nearly two years ago:

• Has a display -- CHECK!
  
• Has 802.11g wireless networking -- CHECK!
  
• Serves up Internet MP3 streams -- CHECK!
  

So, here's a brief review after using this thing for about a day now (Googling turned up no actual reviews of this unit, so I felt it was my technerd duty to post one). Granted, I did not try out every feature yet, and I didn't even install the MusicMatch UPnP audio server software that came with it (I already had the TwonkyVision UPnP app running on our HTPC for use with the Omnifi). So, consider this a "first blush" review only.

Hardware

Inside the box is what you'd pretty much expect.

In the photo below, from upper left, going clockwise is: the SMCWAA-G itself, a CD-ROM and some sparse paper documentation, the wall-wart power adapter, a 6' CAT-5 cable, the remote control (with 2 'AAA' batteries), and some bargain audio cables.

Looking at the back of the unit (below), you see the following (left to right): antenna, Left and Right analog audio jacks, RJ-45 jack, reset button, and power jack.

The size of the unit is surprising -- it is MUCH smaller than I expected. It's roughly half the size of an external 3.5" HDD, in case that helps. Here's a photo comparing the SMC (top right) with the Omnifi (top left) and our Series 2 TiVo (bottom).

Notice that the front of the unit has no buttons or any means at all of interacting with the SMCWAA-G (that round thing on the left of the front panel is the infrared sensor). All control is done with the remote (shown to the right). The remote is rather generic-looking (nearly identical to the Omnifi remote), but seems to have all the necessary buttons and is fairly easy to read (although it's not lighted, so managing the SMCWAA-G in the dark might be a PITA).

Setup

Notice that the display fits six lines of information -- four lines of menu choices and a top and bottom line of labels and button prompts. Not too terrible a user interface for such a small screen.

Once the language is chosen, the SMCWAA-G launches into a "Configuration Wizard", which actually does a decent job.

The wizard takes you through the few steps of selecting and setting up the unit's wireless connection. Once I had added the unit's MAC address to my router's authentication list, it worked like a charm. The unit reportedly supports 128-bit WEP and WPA, but I didn't test that.

Menus

The menus within a particular UPnP audio source depend on how that UPnP server structures its menus, so the following screen shots show how TwonkyVision shows up on the SMCWAA-G (as mentioned, I did not attempt to use the unit with the MusicMatch software it came with).

All in all, you get quite a bit of information on the screen when a track is playing: Artist, Title, Album, and play time are shown inside the center box, and the date, time, signal strength (left), volume (right), and playback options (e.g., shuffle, repeat, etc.) around the periphery.

The SMCWAA-G works just fine with streaming MP3 sources from the Internet. I added links to an .m3u playlist and TwonkyVision served them up via the EZ-Stream just perfectly. So no complaints there.

Surprising Features

Another cool feature will be appreciated by anyone who has a sizable music collection. Scrolling through hundreds of artists can get pretty tedious. The SMCWAA-G has a "Jump To" button on the remote to solve this problem. Hitting "Jump To" lets you enter in letters and numbers using the remote's phone-like number pad (i.e., for a "U", hit the "8" button three times). Spelling out the first one or more letters of a track name, artist, or album will jump you right to it without scrolling. This is similar to the "Power Scroll" function on the Sonos wireless audio system (but the SMCWAA-G is about 1/10th the price ;-). Note that the , . - and "space" marks are available by hitting the "1" key multiple times.

A third thing that's interesting is that the SMCWAA-G actually offers some audio-based help items in its menu. Selecting one of these help topics causes the unit to broadcast (I assume from some internal memory) a pleasant-sounding woman's voice describing various features and options the unit has. As I've never seen this done before, this innovation surprised me.

There are some other functions and features listed in the manual, but I've not tried them out, so I won't list them here.

Final Thoughts

Some nice-to-haves on the unit would have been some form of digital audio out (everything's digital until it gets to this unit, so why not just pass it on?) and some font options (maybe to cram more lines in on the display or make the text bigger to be read from across a larger room). But those are really quite minor detractions (to me, at least) from what's a fairly solid piece of kit.

All in all, I'm happily surprised. I have a hunch that if Lori also gives this a thumbs-up (and I see no reason she wouldn't), the EZ-Stream SMCWAA-G will become the new king of the family room and our twitchy Omnifi will be relegated to some lesser-used part of the house. Well done, SMC!

Streaming media is on the rise -- YouTube, Google Video, et al. are testimony to that fact. Yet there's a huge gap between those who can enjoy streaming media on the go (in your car, on the commute, etc.) and those who use the original streaming medium: broadcast radio.

Despite the growth of Wi-Fi and cellular Internet connections, good old-fashioned "radio" is still unmatched in its ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and reliability for broadcasting audio to multiple listeners.

Here's an example: When I'm out in the yard mowing, I can pick up a $10 portable FM radio (actually, you can get them free as tradeshow swag) and listen to about 30 channels for free simply by turning it on and hitting a preset button. There is no solution as simple, easy-to-use, and cheap for streaming sources, like WOXY.com or other Internet-only radio stations.

But why not? My Wi-Fi network covers my yard, so why isn't there a nice, little (maybe even cheap) Wi-Fi radio I can stick in my pocket and "tune in" to streamed sources?

Granted, I can use my Treo 650 to stream in MP3-based sources at a whopping 48k mono (thanks, T-Mobile EDGE :-/), but that means I can't receive calls and a full charge only lasts about 2 hours doing that.

So what's the solution? Is terrestrial station going to be around forever because we can't beat its delivery economics with packet-based technologies? Or will mass storage continue to get smaller and cheaper at such a rate that we'll never feel a need for stuff stored "out there"? Or is there a solution on the way I just haven't heard of yet?

A new poll out confirms some things that US technophiles have long believed, such as the fact that most people in the US are still slow to grasp the amazing range of capabilities that phones can offer and that older (i.e., wealthier) customers don't generate demand for the advanced features that younger, poorer customers want to use.

Poll: Cell Phones Irritating, Invaluable

By WILL LESTER - Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Even cell phone users get irritated at others who yak on their portables about their personal business in public. An AP-AOL-Pew poll found the offended don't think they are among the callers who get on other people's nerves.

Most cell users find their phones very useful, with half keeping them on all the time.

But almost nine in 10 say they encounter others using those phones in an annoying way. Only 8 percent of cell users acknowledge their own use of cell phones is sometimes rude.

"People tend to talk louder on the phone. That's quite irritating," said Pamela Sorenson, a 57-year-old resident of Bellingham, Wash. "I often hear young people, mostly college age, talking about dating and personal things I don't want to know about."

More than two-thirds of cell phone users say it would be hard to give up their portable, according to the poll, one of the most extensive news surveys of cell phone users yet.

About a fourth of the cell phone users polled, 26 percent, said they can't imagine life without their cell phone. Three-fourths of cell users say they have used it in an emergency.

"My cell phone is pretty much a necessity _ sometimes a pain but a necessity," said Sandra Moore of Colorado Springs, Colo. "I have children and the cell phone gives me the freedom to be places I need to be. It's easier to communicate with people, you can reach them almost any time.

"But that means people can reach me anytime," she grumbled. "Sometimes, I just turn the ringer off."

Almost one-fourth of those polled say too many people try to get in touch with them on their cell phones _ just one of many headaches balanced against the devices' advantages.

The poll also found:

• More than a fourth, 28 percent, said they sometimes don't drive as safely as they should because they are using a cell phone.

• More than a third, 36 percent, said they are sometimes shocked at the size of their service bill.

The bulk of cell users use it traditionally _ as a portable phone. But cell phones increasingly include built-in cameras, MP3 players, games and computers with the Internet and e-mail.

Young adults and minorities are drawn to the multiple uses of a cell phone. They are more likely than older adults and whites to send text messages, take pictures, use the Internet and play music with their cell phones.

If those trends continue, the cell phones' role will change dramatically.

"We've got everything on my phone," said Mark Madsen, a 24-year-old college student from Chattanooga, Tenn. "I use it mostly for the phone, but I also play video games and use the MP3 player. I pretty much use it all the time."

Only one-third of U.S. cell phone owners use text messages _ a practice immensely popular in Europe and Asia. Two-thirds of cell phone owners between ages 18 and 29 send text messages _ one of many areas where young adults have a more versatile approach to the devices.

More than half, 55 percent, of young adults take still pictures with their phones; 47 percent play games and 28 percent use the Internet, according to the poll of more than 1,200 cell phone users.

"We think of them as mobile phones, but the personal computer, mobile phone and the Internet are merging into some new medium like the personal computer in the 1980s or the Internet in the 1990s," said Howard Rheingold, an author who has taught at Stanford University and written extensively about the effects of technology.

Cell phones have changed the way people organize their time. Nearly half freed said they make most of their cell calls in off-hours when the minutes are free. Almost as many say they make cell phone calls to occupy time when traveling or waiting for someone.

"When I'm driving to my appointments, everybody calls me on my cell phone, said 26-year-old Abel Yanez of San Jose, Calif, who works in a landscaping business. "When I'm in my office, I use my cell phone because if I need to leave, I just leave. I have the office phone so I can dial up on the Internet."

The AP-AOL-Pew poll of 1,503 adults included 1,286 cell phone users and was conducted March 8-26. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. About half of the interviews, 752, were conducted by dialing landlines and 751 were conducted by dialing cell phones.

(c) Associated Press

More information, including the entire survey and a breakdown, question by question, of respondents' answers, can be found here at the Washington Post.

The New York Times has a decent, if not short, piece on wireless network cameras. They review the Linksys WVC54G, Panasonic BB-HCM371A, and D-Link DCS-6620G. They did not mention the Hawking Technology HNC230G I reviewed last month.

One word: Whaaa??

That's what I said when I read over at Gizmodo that this device would cost $249 with a 2-year contract at Cingular.

OK, more words. Let me get this straight. You want me to pay $249 for an otherwise generic featurephone (camera, quad-band) with the only notable feature being that it holds fewer songs than a $30 512MB SD card? For the same price ($249 with contract), you can get a real smartphone (such as the Treo 650) that will hold 2GB worth of music (~500 songs), play movies, surf the web, get email, take pictures, etc. etc. etc.

Sure, some Apple fanatics will get this just because, but IMNSHO this device is overpriced by $100, if not more.

Handsets were supposed to be the razors so that wireless carriers (and now apparently online music providers) could sell them new and fresh content and services (i.e., razor blades). So now that Apple and Cingular are making it easier to get this content you bought from themn onto the device, they want you to pay $200 more than you would for a similarly equipped piece of hardware just for that convenience. I hope most people are smart enough to say "no thanks" (but then I'm usually disappointed when I rely on the general populace's cognitive ability).

Follow-up: Apparently, I'm not the only one to pooh-pooh the ROKR

T-Mobile has saved me some hassle by finally providing EDGE service to 90% of its coverage area. I had been considering switching to Cingular to make use of the higher-speed data connection (GPRS usually gets me 10-20 kbps on my Treo 650 while I see 80-120 kbps with EDGE), but now I don't have to.

Thanks, T-Mobile. Now about that North American HSDPA roll-out...

Ever in search of the better baby cam, I snagged an HNC230G Wireless-G Network Camera from Hawking Technologies. There are many wireless network cameras out there, but I chose this one due to the combination of it having 802.11g with a very reasonable price (under $90).

What's a wireless network camera, and how does it differ from a webcam? Good questions. Webcams have to be connected to a computer, usually via a USB cable, and merely send image (and sometimes sound) data to the PC. Network cameras have their own embedded web server built right into them so they can broadcast their signal to the local network (and out to the Internet) without a PC. They have their own IP address, so you can access them independently of anything else on your network.

In the box was the camera (which was surprisingly small...maybe the size of two decks of cards), a short CAT-5 cable (needed for initial setup only), A/C adapter & power cord (the only wire needed when the HNC230G is in wireless mode), ball-joint mounting kit (a very nice bonus!), and the requisite software CD.

On the camera itself are several features of note: a power plug, an RJ-45 plug, an antenna mount, two screw sockets for mounting on the included ball-joint (one on the top and one on the side), and 4 status LEDs (thankfully the config software lets you turn these completely off).

Setup was pretty easy. First, you plug the camera into power and wire it directly into your network router (initial setup requires a wired connection...can't be done wirelessly). Then, install the setup software onto a PC on the network and run through the camera's wireless setup wizard. After that, once the camera is happily talking to your network, you can complete the configuration wirelessly.

As you can see in the photo, I mounted ours underneath a cabinet in the corner of the kitchen. It's fairly unobtrusive...visible, but it doesn't draw your attention. The power cord is tied up in a little bundle behind the camera...you can just see the 802.11g antenna peeking out from behind (ignore the coax cable there...that's unrelated).

So how well does it work? Pretty well, overall. When using the camera's wireless connection to view the camera's video in a web browser (it requires a Java applet), I get 6 frames per second (fps) at 160x120 and 320x240 resolutions and 2-3 fps at 640x480 (note that my wireless network is 100% 802.11g). When using a wired connection, I get somewhat faster video, although not at the camera's advertised rate of 30 fps. Image quality is quite decent...very acceptable, as can be seen in the screen cap below (that's our dog in the foreground). The camera also comes with viewer software that will let you watch 4 network cameras simultaneously (for security applications or, I guess, if you have lots of kids).

Overall, I'm happy with the purchase. I had always wanted an 802.11 network camera, but balked at the price. Prices have really started to drop recently, and this budget offering from Hawking Technologies doesn't disappoint.

My wife's GSM Treo 600 (yes, a hand-me-down, but a nice one) started acting up a couple weeks ago. 90% of the time when I turned on the cellular radio, it would soft reset. A new SIM card and every kind of Palm OS reset known to man failed to fix it, so I started casting about for options: repair, replace, anything. Her daily glares from not having a working cellphone were strong motivation.

PalmOne wanted a flat $179 to fix it, plus $25 for an advance exchange (I get the new one before sending the old one back, saving my wife ~10 more days without a PDA). Steep. Buying a new one, or even a used on ebay was just as costly, if not more so ($190+ with new ones hovering around $240).

Then I decided to call T-Mobile, just to see if they could help me out. I was skeptical since I hadn't purchased the phone from them in the first place. But lo and behold, they came through! Because the phone was out of warranty (by 5 months..grrr), they offered to charge me just $70 for a replacement Treo 600 via advance exchange (it would have been free had the phone been less than a year old). I was stunned, but the very pleasant and helpful Tier 1 (Treo) support guy on the phone assured me they do this all the time for T-Mobile customers.

So, yesterday a small brown box appeared with the daily mail. In it was a new (I'm sure not refurbished) Treo 600 with a return postage-paid label included. I just swapped the SIM and SD cards, restored the RAM image from the old device to the new device (thanks, BackupMan!), and the phones were effectively switched. The longest part of the whole swap process was removing, washing, and applying the Brando permanent screen protector the old Treo had on it. Tomorrow I'll drop the bundled up old Treo off at the Post Office and that will be that. Could it be any easier? I doubt it.

I gotta say, folks can gripe all they want about T-Mobile, but my personal experience with them so far (2+ years now) has been nothing but highly satisfying. I've always had pleasant, competent people on the phone and in the store, and their rates are among the most reasonable available. What's not to love?

While I was setting up the DMS1 this weekend, Mitch recently installed his new Omnifi DMP1 and he was generous enough to share his thoughts and some pictures:

I spent a good portion of my Saturday installing the Omnifi DMP1, which is the mobile portion of the package Craig and I both ordered from Woot! The install was very smooth, but more ambitious than the average bear's as I was also putting in XM Radio at the same time. This required additional interior panels to be removed and some extra wiring.

I already had an AUX input equipped Alpine head unit in my Subaru WRX, so it really was just a plug-and-play operation with the exception of soldering the switched 12V, constant 12V and dash illumination wires. I cut a piece of plywood that fits under my driver's seat and won't move around. All the components bolted to the plywood and the wiring was semi-organized around it. The hard drive in the DMP1 is easily accessible from the rear seat footwell. I put the wireless antenna up on the package shelf.

The system fired up and worked with no issues other than an errant period in one of my MP3 filenames which crashed the synch. The sound quality is very, very good (better than the iPod that was plugged in for MP3 duties). File navigation could be improved, but it's not terrible. My wife, who fears most things technical, needed no instruction to find the files she wanted to play. That's saying something.

The only real niggle I have with the system right now is my inability to synch the system wirelessly. I can see my home network, but can't get the car to see the media server. I will figure it out, but the implementation is a bit wonky as the firmware refuses to retain a WEP key. I will have to go WEP-less to find a workaround.

I have not had time to try any of the other UPnP music servers, but I will. The TwonkyVision server sounds nice as it works well with the Linksys NSLU2. I'm formatting a new 250GB drive as I type this which could become my new media server.

If the DMS1 is a cool as this DMP1, I will be totally pleased with my $200 purchase. Kudos to Craig for catching that one over on Woot!

Photo: Close-up of Wi-Fi adapter on rear package shelf (wired through the LATCH fixture opening)

Photo: Mess o' wires mounted under driver's seat

Photo: DMP1 mounted above Alpine head unit

Photo: Completed center console in WRX cockpit

When Woot! offered up the Rockford Fosgate Omnifi package, consisting of a DMS1 (shown), a DMP1, and two wireless adapters, for $199 a second time last week, I couldn't resist. The DMP1 (the wireless hard-drive-based MP3 car audio system) alone used to retail for North of $400, so $199 was just too good to pass up. Plus, I'd been looking at the wireless home media streamers for a while, and the DMS1 seemed decent.

As of today, I've only had a chance to set up the DMS1 (installing the DMP1 will require me getting a new head unit to replace the factory stereo since I really don't want to go the FM modulator route). Once I get the DMS1 installed (or maybe I can get Mitch to write up his experience with it, since he has his 50% in right now), I'll post about that unit.

The DMS1 is a wired/wireless music streamer. In a nutshell, it grabs music off of PCs elsewhere in your network -- MP3 and Internet radio, for example -- and feeds them into your stereo. Given that we have our entire CD collection ripped to MP3, and given that we listen to WOXY.com a lot, a media streamer makes a lot of sense.

Installation of the hardware was a breeze. Plug in the audio patch cables into our stereo, plug in the USB Wi-Fi adapter, and plug in the power cord. All done.

Getting the included media server software (that runs on a PC somewhere on your network) to work was a bit more of a chore. An app called SimpleCenter is included with the hardware and it works fine...with one bizarre restriction: it will only accept 10,000 music files into its database. Now, not to brag, but Lori and I have 13,000+ files in our collection (yes, we have a lot of CDs), so this just wasn't going to be acceptable. So I started looking around for alternative solutions.

Since the DMS1 simply talks to any UPnP (Universal Plug-n-Play) music server application, there are several to choose from. Ones I've tried so far include SimpleCenter, TwonkyVision MusicServer, and Musicmatch Jukebox 10.

Of the three, TwonkyVision's solution is the best fit for my needs. It not only has no limit on files (none that I've seen yet), but it also feeds up Internet radio streams like a champ. It's not terribly robust -- I've had it crash a few times (althought I think that is just because I had multiple UPnP media apps running at the same time...since having it run by itself, it's been pretty stable) -- but it's free and seems to work OK.

It's pretty nice being able to browse our MP3 collection and favorite net radio streams from the family room without having to turn on the TV or use the HTPC. While the DMS1 isn't as full-featured as a PC-based solution is, it's easier to use and makes accessing our music much, much faster. Below is a pic of the DMS1 (sitting on top of a TiVo Series 2 for size comparison).

I have a weakness for McD's cheeseburgers, so I thought I'd give the local
Golden Arches, which just started advertising free Wi-Fi with a Value Meal,
a try.

Unlike Panera, where access is unrestricted, you have to have an access
code to use McD's wireless. It worked OK, so all is well.

It was a bit weird sitting in a McDonald's with my laptop -- I'm pretty
sure I was the only patron using it at lunch today. Would I go back just
because of the Wi-Fi? No, but it makes eating there easier to justify to
myself now that I can get some work done while enjoying a decadent meal.

Ever since I started using a Treo 600 in late February of 2004, I've kept track of the amount of wireless data I use each month. You know, just out of curiosity, because I constantly wonder whether I get more value out of my voice minutes or out of the $19.95 all-I-can-eat data plan I have with my carrier.

So, here's the breakdown over the past year or so:

Interestingly, I don't see any obvious correlation -- either positive or negative -- between the monthly voice and data numbers. One thing I'm sure about is that I'd give up wireless voice service before I gave up wireless data.

One way my carrier keeps those data numbers so low is that their GPRS throughput is pretty slow -- I'm lucky to get uninterrupted 33Kbps -- so downloading any serious amount of content takes a whiiiile.

So, how do your numbers stack up? Do you choose to be more voice- or data-centric, or does your phone/device make that decision for you?

There seem to be as many arguments for having Wi-Fi (802.11 wireless networking) integrated into handhelds (PDAs and smartphones) as there are against.

ARGUMENTS FOR:
- Wi-Fi is MUCH faster than cellular data
- Wi-Fi is more stable than a cellular connection
- Wi-Fi enables VOIP

ARGUMENTS AGAINST:
- Wi-Fi uses more power than cellular
- Wi-Fi adds bulk and cost to the unit
- Wi-Fi's speed advantage decreases as cellular data speeds increase

So what's your opinion? Do you want Wi-Fi in your handheld or not? Why? Leave a comment...people who make these decisions will read them.

I travel enough to know that the rates for Wi-Fi in hotels varies a lot. Some are free whereas others are fairly expensive ($20/day or more).

At the Park City Marriott, where I am right now for a conference, wireless is $9.95 for each 24-hour period -- not terrible, but certainly not free. Granted, I can get dial-up speeds via my Treo's GPRS connection, but Wi-Fi's speed advantage really makes a difference (to me, at least).

So what price are you willing to pay for hotel Wi-Fi? Anything?

I've noticed a disturbing trend. Laptop makers, when listing their products' specs, have started just saying "802.11b/g" -- that doesn't help me at all. Is it the slower 802.11b (which is compatible with 802.11g networks) or is it the faster 802.11g (which is, well, faster)??

Is this some grand marketing conspiracy to "sell up" aging Wi-Fi (802.11b) components using the appeal of the faster 802.11g standard? Or, am I the only one being confused?

Sharp Electronics and Instant802 Networks have announced a partnership, bringing video distribution into the wireless age.

The partnership has resulted in the Sharp Galileo Personal Video Recorder (PVR), one of the first devices to leverage 802.11-based wireless systems for video distribution.

Instant802's wireless software platform is used for range of data networking devices. The Sharp Galileo PVR is one of the first consumer electronics devices using the platform. Instant802 also provides residential gateway solutions integrated with security solutions.

The Galileo PVR is available immediately in Japan, and is expected to hit North America later this year.

I leave for a 4-day academic conference tomorrow afternoon. The conference is in Mexico. While there, I'll have the privilege of paying $1.49 per minute to T-Mobile for international roaming with my mobile phone.

According to GSM World, "GSM is a standard that embraces all areas of technology, resulting in global, seamless wireless services for all its customers."

Um, yeah...whatever. Not only is the per-minute voice rate prohibitively expensive for international roaming, I can't even use GPRS/Internet on my Treo 600 while in Mexico (at least not through T-Mobile). Looks like we still have a looong way to go.

I just saw this blog entry describing the unchecked growth of cellular towers in our national parks:

"Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, federal lands were opened to the placement of cell towers. However, Congress instructed the National Park Service (NPS) to develop appropriate regulations for implementing the law, noting that that 'the Washington Monument, Yellowstone National Park or a pristine wildlife sanctuary, while perhaps prime sites for an antenna and other facilities, are not appropriate and the use of them would be contrary to environmental, conservation, and public safety laws.'

Last month PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) protested the placement of a cell tower that actually overlooks Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. The group stated that the NPS increased the height of the tower after submitting the plan for review to the state of Wyoming. PEER said the NPS also failed to file a notice with the Federal Register that it was considering or approving the tower -- as required by law -- and in addition it failed to allow for public comment on the plan."

The article goes on to describe how cellular towers "...in the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Everglades National Parks, Big Cypress and Mojave National Preserves, as well as Yellowstone, have gone up with no public notification or review."

I love a strong cellular signal as much as the next guy, but I have to believe that there are many, many natural places where the location of a tower simply isn't justifiable. There's a reason why these are called "natural" wonders and "natural" preserves, and a 100' cellular tower shouldn't be part of that environment. If some people prize mobile coverage and technological access more than the natural state of these national parks, why visit there in the first place?

I've spent some time reviewing the wireless media hub options available, and they all come up short. What I want is simple, really: I want something I can plug into my stereo and, without using the TV, enable me to stream both MP3's (from a computer on our network) and Internet radio (from our broadband connection) to our home stereo using an 802.11g wireless connection.

There are several requirements in that description (i.e., integrated screen, MP3 and Internet radio streaming, and 802.11g), yet every wireless media hub out there (at least that I've seen) fails on one or more accounts. Here's a review of how they stack up (or fail to, actually):

• Netgear MP101
-- OK: Integrated 4-line LCD and streaming MP3
-- Failures: No streaming Internet radio (other than a subscription-based service...ugh!) and no 802.11g (low-speed 802.11b only). However, this discussion gives me hope that the MP101 might someday at least accommodate streaming Internet radio.

• Creative Sound Blaster Wireless Music
-- OK: Integrated LCD (on RF remote!) and streaming MP3
-- Failures: No streaming Internet radio and no 802.11g (again, 'b' only)

• Roku Soundbridge M1000 & M2000
-- OK: Integrated LCD and streaming MP3
-- Failures: No streaming Internet radio and no 802.11g (the Soundbridge relies on an optional CompactFlash Wi-Fi adapter, and those only exist right now in the 802.11b flavor)

• Turtle Beach AudioTron-100
-- OK: 2-line integrated LCD and streams both MP3 and Internet radio
-- Failures: No wireless of any sort (Ethernet only)

• Slim Devices' Squeezebox
-- OK: 2-line LCD and streams both MP3 and Internet radio
-- Failures: No 802.11g (802.11b only)

• SMC SMCWAA-B EZ-Stream
-- OK: Large LCD and streams both MP3 and Internet radio
-- Failures: No 802.11g (802.11b only)

There are quite a few other wireless media hubs that require you to use your TV as the interface, including the HP ew5000, the Play@TV NMP-4000, and the Linksys WMA11B. However, since I don't want to have to hook the unit up to the TV to use it (our television takes 24 seconds to warm up when you turn it on before an image appears, which is seriously annoying when all you want to do is listen to music), I'm not even considering these.

So, I'm still waiting for something that will let me listen to MP3s and my favorite Internet MP3 streams over our 802.11g network that won't require me using the TV. A couple of nice-to-haves would include (a) not requiring me to use clunky proprietary music management software and (b) a bitchin' RF remote. Any suggestions?

Update: I've added the Squeezebox to the list at the suggestion of the folks at eHomeUpgrade. The rationale for wanting 802.11g rather than 'b' is that I'd rather have a homogeneous wireless network to ensure the fastest possible connections for all attached devices. Utopian? Possibly, but IMO there's no compelling reason why we should be forced to use old technology when there's something better available now.

Update #2: I've added the SMC offering as well (thanks, KC).

I just got my T-Mobile bill -- the first one since getting my Treo 600 and switching over from Verizon. One thing that I noticed that I found quite interesting was a daily tally of my GPRS data usage.

It seems that my total for the month was 27.03 megabytes, with a single-day high of 3.12 MB and a low of 0.03 MB (what?! was I asleep all day again?!). Had someone asked me my predictions of these numbers, I don't even know what I would have guessed.

So how much wireless data do you chew through each month?

I've started listening to the radio on my phone. How? All through the magic of Pocket Tunes from NormSoft.

Pocket Tunes is first an MP3 and Ogg Vorbis player application for your Palm OS device. It's fully skinnable with decent playlist handling and has lots of other nifty features that make it very capable stand-alone music player.

However, the real magic starts when you realize that Pocket Tunes Deluxe supports streaming MP3 over wireless connections. You can now listen to that favorite streaming radio station or your own Shoutcast source wherever your wireless Palm OS handheld or smartphone has Internet access.

For example, my phone is the Treo 600 from palmOne (nee Handspring). Using GPRS, I can stream in 97X at 24 Kbps without a hiccup (higher quality streams surpass GPRS's sustained throughput, so you end up buffering every so often, which gets annoying). Or, I could listen to my own stream if I were to switch it over to 24 Kbps (its default is 64 Kbps). Some other Treo-friendly streams can be found at Treobits.

Now, if my endorsement isn't enough to convince you, Pocket Tunes also won PalmSource's "Best Multimedia Solution" at the 2004 Developer's Conference. Nice job, NormSoft!

After reading some friends' blogs about working in public, I decided to try to get some grading done at my local Panera (chain bread bakery and sandwich/soup shop). After all, they now have free Wi-Fi (for real), fountain refills are free, and the seats are pretty cushy.

While there, I tended to be a little less efficient than I'd hoped. One of my great passions is watching people -- the things they do, wear, use, and say fascinate me -- so I tended to get distracted a fair bit. One thing I noticed was that Panera is starting to attract a really tech-savvy, sophisticated bunch. Here are some examples:

Guy A -- Sitting in his calf-skin jacket and appropriately faded baseball cap, this late-30's guy was totally decked out with fine gear. He had a Dell Latitude D800 notebook and a Samsung SPH-i500 smartphone. When he left, he got into his Mercedes SL600 (pictured), lowered the top, and sped off. While he certainly could be a child molestor or baby seal hunter, you have to admit the guy has good taste.

Guy 2 -- Tucked away in a corner of an otherwise unoccupied room of the store was this late 20's Asian dude dressed very slacker-hip. On the table in front of him was his 17" Apple Powerbook. Next to that was an Apple iPod (no, I didn't ask him what size) and he was using what looked like some Shure headphones. When he left, he hopped into his Audi TT Roadster (yeah, it was a really nice day here today).

Given that it was 4pm on a Saturday, the place wasn't very busy. However, based on just these few observations, I'd guess that free Wi-Fi tends to attract clientele with both good tech taste and decent salaries.

Streaming video is a bandwidth hog, right? So why hasn't anyone come out with a wireless webcam that uses 802.11g instead of Wi-Fi (802.11b)? One would think that the extra throughput could be put to good use on a webcam.

NTT DoCoMo has announced that phones from its 3G FOMA videophone series can now be used in Japan to control home appliances from almost anywhere the phone can be used.

The heart of the system is an in-home control box that is contacted by the phone, and which in turn processes commands to appliances via infrared (IrDA) or via cable connection.

The controller can be connected to a PC via a USB port, or to external sensors (such as light or motion sensors) via an independent I/O port. It is connected to the mobile FOMA network via a special data card.

The system lets users control lights and air conditioners, for example, turning them on or off as appropriate.

More amazingly, it enables users to remotely program recording a television program, and then transmit the playback on the phone, streamed through the FOMA network.

A FOMA videophone can also transmit pictures to the controller, for viewing on a connected screen.

From coffee joints to malls to major infrastructure providers, it seems that everyone wants to make money from Wi-Fi hotspots. I have sincere doubts that Wi-Fi will ever contribute significantly to a third party's revenue. Why? It comes down to basic economics.

Generally, companies make money by providing goods and services that create value for their customers. Those firms that produce the most value, or those whose goods and services generate the greatest utility, for their customers often stand the best chance of capturing that economic surplus (i.e. making big bucks).

Wi-Fi hotspots just don't represent a significant source of incremental value for most customers. Therefore, most won't be willing to pay an extra out-of-pocket expense. Those customers who do feel it's important are still not patronizing those service providers because of the Wi-Fi -- it's an additional service enhancement, not a core service. Also, Wi-Fi hotspots are starting to seem potentially redundant (and may soon even look a bit quaint) in the face of the forthcoming 4G cellular technologies that offer similar speeds but far more ubiquitous coverage.

The best strategy is to assess how having Wi-Fi access in your service establishment, be it an airport or a coffee shop, aligns with your overall strategic intent. Does Wi-Fi, as an ancillary service, reinforce your core service or make it more attractive? Is Wi-Fi a source of differentiation for you? Does Wi-Fi bring in incremental customers?

If the answer is "yes" to any of those questions, then add the relatively inexpensive infrastructure yourself and just provide free Wi-Fi service. Flip on the switch and let your customers lap up the goodness. Wi-Fi is a fairly scalable service enhancement -- it represents a relatively low fixed cost and an even lower incremental cost.

Plus, don't even think about charging your customers for it -- that's not consistent with idea of adding value to your service. Operationally speaking, it just doesn't work out. While you will indeed get to collect some (rather paltry) usage fees, you will end up reducing the number of customers who will use it (i.e. fewer customers will perceive it as value-added), which makes it harder to make a return on the investment, and you will be forced to deal with the hassle of access codes, user accounts, billing, etc. ad nauseum. Outsourcing your Wi-Fi access to someone else who is hoping to make money off of the service is similarly misguided -- not only is there little to no incremental value for your customers, you don't end up earning much anyway (since somebody has to deal with all the operational hassles).

Basically, it comes down to one simple rule: If Wi-Fi is important to your customers, give it to them for free. If it's not important to them, don't bother with it in the first place. The economics don't support fee-based systems, and the increased customer loyalty you're likely to get from giving them an extra service enhancement (that's cheap for you) will more than make up for whatever minimal amount is associated with installing the system in the first place.

I'm now fully switched over to my new Treo 600 (shown). All the apps and data that resided on my previous smart phone (the Kyocera 7135) have been transferred and I'm living large.

As a phone, it's dandy -- it does everything a phone is supposed to do and it does them superlatively. The size, weight, feel, and interface are all just terrific. Yes, there are smaller phones out there, but the Treo 600 is not what I would call large by any stretch.

As a PDA, it's very good. While the low-res screen reduces the amount of stuff you can see at any one time, the display is amazingly bright and clear (and it's the same 160x160 that I had on my Kyocera). The 32 MB of RAM is adequate (but not tremendous) and the 144 MHz processor is quite snappy. The SDIO slot provides nearly limitless expandability.

The real work of art here is the interface between the PDA side and the phone side. Unlike the Kyocera, there really is no division between these two functions. On the 7135, it was very apparent whether you dealing with a "phone" function or a "PDA" function -- shuttling between the two function sets was difficult and obvious.

In contrast, the Treo 600 blends everything quite perfectly. Using GPRS in a PDA application is seamless and transparent. Initiating a voice call from the Addressbook is fall-down easy. Handspring/palmOne really knows their stuff when it comes to user interfaces.

Then there's the battery life...it's heaploads better than I expected. I can easily go three days on a single charge with moderate PDA and phone/GPRS use. My Kyocera and my old Treo 270 would struggle to go 24 hours. Realizing that "battery = weight" makes me even more accepting of the Treo 600's 6 oz. weight (typical for handhelds, a bit heavier than most cellphones).

But, nothing is perfect. I wish the SDIO slot were full-power rather than it being a bit underpowered (it's not clear whether it's actually SDIO compliant in that regard). I also wish that T-Mobile's GPRS speeds were better. They're not bad in most spots, but the throughput can vary a fair bit from location to location and it still pales in comparison to Wi-Fi. I'm hoping that EDGE will come to T-Mobile fairly soon (is a hardware change required on the phone?). Finally, and this is the tiniest nit to pick, I wish it had a feature that my Tungsten C has -- hold down a letter key to capitalize it. I really like that feature and I wish the Treo 600 had that as an available option. The Shift key isn't inconvenient...it's just that I often capitalize after-the-fact and the TC's approach lets me change my mind after the letter has been struck.

Overall, to borrow from McDonald's, when it comes to the Treo 600, I'm Lovin' It.

Yesterday afternoon, I visited my local T-Mobile store with a long list of things I wanted to do. Despite my first in-store experience with T-Mobile being really good (almost 2 years ago), given the complexity of the things I needed done, I didn't have much hope at having a good customer service experience. Boy, was I wrong.

I walked into the store wanting the following things taken care of:
• Convert my wife's existing T-Mobile Basic account into a 2-line Family plan
• Activate my new Treo 600 as the 2nd line on the Family plan
• Port my existing Verizon Wireless number (on my Kyocera 7135) to the Treo 600
• Add T-Mobile's $19.99 all-you-can-eat GPRS plan to the Treo 600

The manager of the store asked if he could help. I told him the above list and he got started. 15 minutes later, everything was taken care of plus I walked out with a new 900/1900 freebie phone. There was no hassle and he was incredibly fascile with the processes required to do each of the tasks.

Moreover, I liked how T-Mobile underpromises and overdelivers. They told me that my number could take up to 72 hours to get ported and that service to the Treo 600 might not be active until Monday. Well, by 11 pm last night, my Treo 600 was logged into the network and receiving calls made to my old Verizon number. Man, that's just phenomenal, especially given all the crap that some other carriers' customers are going through when porting their numbers.

Well, if the pundits are right (which they're often not, which is I guess what separates them from prophets), Bluetooth is officially dead for desktops and other non-portable devices. The slayer is Ultra-Wide-Band (UWB), which will supposedly be equivalent to wireless high-speed USB 2.0.

Pocket PC Thoughts has an interesting discussion going on about this story. Some are skeptical, some are optimistic, but there seems to be a lot of sincere interest in getting that rat's nest of cables out from behind the desk.

I hope this comes true, if not for the convenience, then simply for the fact that my 2004 new year's prediction that Bluetooth would once again die this year would at least partially come true.

So, I'm planning on switching my cellular service from Verizon to T-Mobile. My Verizon contract expires on Monday, and my Treo 600 should be getting here in early March.

I've already confirmed with T-Mobile that I can port my Verizon number over, so that's fine.

Anybody have any reactions or recommendations regarding this switch? Good packages at T-Mobile? Interesting wireless data options I should consider?

US mobile telephone operator Cingular has announced that it will acquire rival AT&T Wireless for $41B. The deal creates the largest US wireless provider, with 46 million customers and sales of over $32B.

Cingular is a joint venture between BellSouth and SBC Communications, with over 24 million customers. AT&T Wireless is the second-largest US wireless carrier, with over 22 million subscribers.

British mobile phone company Vodafone was the other participant in a bidding war for AT&T Wireless, which was up for sale with a deadline of Feb 13, extended to Feb 15.

The acquisition is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, but is expected to close by late 2004.

I recently mentioned that Verizon was increasing its regulatory charges fee from a nickel to $0.45 per month. Now, I've just been informed with my latest bill that T-Mobile is adding a whopping $0.86 per month as a new "Regulatory Programs Fee":

A new monthly Regulatory Programs Fee ("Fee") of $0.86 per line of service will be added to your monthly T-Mobile bill, beginning as early as your March 2004 invoice. The fee will help us recover the costs associated with complying with government mandates and programs, such as:

• Enhanced 911 which helps emergency agencies determine your approximate location and call-back number when you dial 911.

• Number pooling which helps reduce the need to create new area codes.

• Number portability which enables wireless customers to bring their current numbers with them.

We hope these improved wireless services allow you to Get More.

Get More...ticked off? Get More...irritated? Wow...mission accomplished.

Verizon Wireless let its cellular customers know recently that it would be increasing the fees it charges because of the recently passed Wireless Telephone Number Portability Act of 2003.

"INCREASE IN REGULATORY CHARGE. Beginning March 1, 2004, our Regulatory Charge, which helps defray Verizon Wireless' ongoing costs of complying with various regulatory mandates, will increase from $0.05 to $0.45 per month to help defray the costs of complying with the FCC's local number portability requirements. ..."

An 800% increase? Wow. I'm looking forward to my contract being up in late February so I can switch over to T-Mobile. I'd like to make use of all those monthly nickels I've been paying Verizon!

A new 3G broadband wireless antenna technology will be tried during the 2004 Olympic Games inside Athens International Airport in Greece this summer.

The new antennas, called phased arrays, can electronically and automatically change their coverage patterns from circles to ellipses in order to dynamically cover dead spots where callers would otherwise get no signal. Current systems change only their power output depending on demand. The new antennas would change both their power and the shape of their signals to match call demand at any given time.

The system will rely on autonomous agents, semi-intelligent software entities that can locate and negotiate for resources on behalf of their owners. The benefits of the new system potentially include better reception for users and potentially lower mobile bills, since the system would rely on a reduced number of antenna masts, saving money up-front as well as later due to reduced maintenance.

"The airport network will be a hybrid "2.5G" system encompassing some aspects of both conventional GSM and 3G. Called the Airport Decision and Management Network (Adamant), it is part of a European Union-funded project designed to reduce flight delays caused when airlines cannot contact passengers who are late boarding a plane."

The full story can be found at NewScientist.com.

While researching the construction of a long range 2.4 GHz link, I ran into a very interesting page detailing the theory and construction of slotted waveguide antennas. These strange looking and simple-to-make devices offer performance equal to or better than the best commercial antennas. Antenna gain of 15 dBi is pretty common.

Always up for a geeky challenge, I arranged for one of my local machine shops to get me some aluminum tubing. I found some inexpensive pre-made cables on eBay. And coincidentally I just purchased a new hotrod CNC milling machine for my company's machine shop. I should have some antennas made by next week. Once I get everything together I'll see if I can talk Craig into testing a long range link with me.

Wi-Fi (802.11-based wireless networking) is exploding. Everybody from McDonald's to Starbucks are providing wireless Internet via Wi-Fi. It's not just the US, either. Gizmodo is reporting that the UK sandwich chain Benugo is starting to do the Wi-Fi thing as well, giving away Palm Tungsten C wireless PDAs as part of the promotion.

Just today at lunch, I noticed that the local Bruegger's Bagels eatery had a little sticker on the door for Surf and Sip, a relatively new paid Wi-Fi hotspot service.

Where will it end? Well, actually, I hope it doesn't. Wi-Fi could be the next great technology that permits ubiquitous, cheap, and fast Internet access for the masses. Cellular technologies have great coverage, but the infrastructure is really expensive. Contrast that with the idea of making every PC a wireless access point, and you start seeing the potential.

Research in Motion has just released the BlackBerry 7510, a new version of the famously addictive wireless handheld with phone and data capability.

Similar to the color 7200 series, the 7510 features new long-range digital walkie-talkie and speakerphone capabilities.

The color screen features a high resolution 240x160 display supporting over 65,000 colors. Other highlights include built-in email, browser and organizer apps; integrated attachment viewing for email; and a development platform based on Java.

Walkie-talkie service is provided by Nationwide Direct Connect, and phone service is via Nextel.

Wireless software publisher JAMDAT Mobile has announced that it is launching wireless games based on The Lord of the Rings epic. Available through Verizon Wireless' Get it Now service, the games suite include six separate apps:

The Return of the King is an eight-level scrolling adventure game with Aragorn, Frodo, Gandalf, Gimli, Legolas, Pippin and Sam battling Orcs, Uruk-hai, Trolls, the Army of the Dead, Shelob and other foes.

The Lord of the Rings Trivia includes more than 360 trivia questions covering characters, objects and locations and more from all three chapters of the Ring trilogy.

The Lord of the Rings Pinball is a fast two-table pinball game wrapped in a Middle-Earth theme.

Wallpapers offer various Middle-Earth images including characters, locations, scenes, and maps. Finally, The Lord of The Rings Tones Player provides ring tones based on the musical score.

For over 2 years now, I've relied on D-Link's Wi-Fi (802.11b) products for my home wireless networking. All that time, the performance of my setup was never all that satisfying. I had always chalked it up to the inherent limitations of wireless in an older home. Well, my outlook has changed...for the better.

For Christmas, I received a Netgear WGR614 54g (802.11g) wireless router (pictured). I unplugged my D-Link components (yes, that's plural...more on that later), plugged in the Netgear, whipped through the browser-based setup in about 5 minutes, and was happily back in the game. I was very pleased at the ease of setup, but the real question in my mind was range -- was it better or worse than before?

Before I give the results, I should describe my old setup. As you might recall, I started out with a D-Link DI-614+ 802.11b router. The router alone didn't even cover my family room (down one floor and on the other side of the house), so I added a D-Link DWL-800AP+ range extender. That gave me another 30' of range towards the rear of the house so that the back deck was covered (just barely...signal strength was pretty low).

So, how did the Netgear fare? Amazingly well. The WGR614 provided a usable signal 40 feet beyond the range of BOTH D-Link products COMBINED. Now I have a usable signal clear out in our detached garage! Yes, where I had relied on two D-Link products to provide mediocre 11 Mbps coverage of my house, the Netgear WGR614 provides me with good-to-great 54 Mbps coverage across our entire property.

I'm really stunned. I didn't expect the Netgear to be this powerful. Or, alternately, I didn't expect the D-Link to be so wimpy. Either way, I'm a happy camper. And since the Netgear can be had for well under $90, it seems like a really good bargain. Now to just start upgrading the PCs in our house to 802.11g so I can make use of the increased bandwidth...

With the latest release of QuickTime, Apple is claiming that it has developed the first mainstream media format for rich multimedia content across CDMA 2000 and GSM wireless networks.

QuickTime 6.5 enhances the popular software - already a leading platform for high-quality audio and video over IP, wireless and broadband networks, with over 175 million downloads for the 6.0 version - and enables users to share high-quality multimedia across the two predominant wireless networking technologies worldwide.

The new release supports 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards, including Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) and Qualcomm Code Excited Linear Predictive (QCELP) audio codecs, MPEG-4 and H.263 video codecs, 3G Timed Text, native .3gp and .3g2 file formats, Movie Fragments, cross-platform Unicode text support, and enhanced DV playback.

Wi-Fi Planet is reporting that SanDisk sent out an email explaining the reasons for the delay in their issuing Palm OS drivers for their Secure Digital (SD) Wi-Fi (802.11b) adapter cards (shown).

While we've covered SanDisk's delay here at GearBits before, there are several aspects to SanDisk's statements that seem a bit odd. For example:

"SanDisk goes on to say it and SyChip have "invested considerable time and resources into developing Palm OS 4.1 drivers" but that in the long run providing the drivers will not be worthwhile. The older hardware, they say, isn't fast enough to take advantage of the higher bandwidth speed of 802.11b, and models that lack networking software (like the Palm m500) would need upgrades that would require too much technical expertise by the end user."

Older hardware isn't fast enough to take advantage of Wi-Fi? That's simply untrue. I had Wi-Fi on my HandEra 330 by adding on a Symbol Wireless Networker Compact Flash Wi-Fi adapter. The 330 had a 33 MHz Dragonball CPU and it was more than able to use Wi-Fi in a meaningful way (e.g., instant messaging, IRC, and web browsing on mostly text sites were all very usable). Even running VNC on it was feasible (albeit a tad slow). So, I don't buy this story -- my suspicion is that they just weren't able to finish the drivers and finally said "screw it."

"The company blamed delays in the Palm 5.x drivers for the SD Wi-Fi card on proprietary changes to the OS that product makers can introduce (SanDisk will have to make device specific changes) [and] electrical issues on some devices that couldn't handle the SD Wi-Fi card (the Treo 600 is mentioned specifically)..."

Who said SanDisk had to support ALL devices running Palm OS 5 when the drivers are released? You couldn't just support some Palm OS 5 devices (just like you're supporting only some Pocket PC 2003 devices)? Geez, guys, make a business decision and see what devices you need to support, based on the installed base, to make the required profit on your development costs (it's called an "ROI calculation" in case that's a foreign idea to you). My hunch is that if you supported just a few devices (e.g., the Tungsten T line and the Zire 71 from palmOne, perhaps also the Tapwave Zodiac), you could easily recoup your dev costs and make a nice profit.

SanDisk also claims that the necessity of negotiating a new OS licensing agreement with PalmSource (since it was spun off from Palm, Inc.) has hindered its ability to release drivers. Knowing what I know about PalmSource, I might believe a delay of a month or two, but not the six-month delay that SanDisk is now defending.

Anyway, the upshot is that SanDisk has really fallen down on its promises. Given the way it has handled this all so far, I'm not sure I'd buy an SD Wi-Fi card from them now even if drivers were available. What about you? Are you troubled by this whole debacle, or is it just a little glitch that we'll all forget about in 12 months?

Thanks to Gizmodo for the link.

Forbes magazine has an interesting story discussing why wireless (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular) may be the only saving grace for what we now know as the PDA.

"So far, handhelds with chips to help users connect wirelessly to the Internet or to their other gadgets are in the minority of handhelds sold. This year, only about 15% of PDAs sold include wireless capabilities; Todd Kort, an analyst at research firm Gartner, predicts that the number will double next year because of the cheaper, more battery-efficient wireless chips on the horizon. Kort predicts that corporate customers wanting to keep their workers wirelessly plugged into the office will help prop up handheld sales for the foreseeable future, though he still doesn't forecast growth for handhelds as a market in general."

While I don't generally give much credibility to most of what the likes of Gartner have to say about things, this is one opinion I agree with. Unwired PDAs are likely to be as high-growth (and high-profit) as bargain calculators are now.

One comment in the article that may perhaps be more contentious was made by Paul Saffo, a research director for the Institute for the Future:

"Even if, as a consumer, you don't care about Palm, you should," said Saffo, the futurist. "Without [PalmOne], we're all marching lockstep with AT&T and Microsoft. As consumers, I think we should all buy a Palm even if we don't use it -- just to keep the diversity out there."

So, is wireless the life extending technology for PDAs, or can something else do it? Or, are we likely to see them die out regardless in a few years?

According to Palm Infocenter, SanDisk is once again delaying the release of Palm OS drivers for its Secure Digital Wi-Fi adapters. Despite promising Palm OS drivers for nearly a year now, SanDisk is now quoting a new estimated availability of 1Q2004.

While Socket Communications also offers an SD Wi-Fi adapter, that company never promised any Palm OS drivers. Socket, if you're listening, please step up and fill the void. Please.

If you're a Verizon customer, you can't currently even consider getting the yummy new Treo 600 smartphone from palmOne (nee Handspring).

However, there's a rather sizable online petition going to get Verizon to add the Treo 600 to its approved handset list. You can sign the petition here<.a>.

Plus, Gizmodo is reporting that Verizon is saying that it's considering it, so there may be hope yet.

My Tapwave Zodiac has on-board Bluetooth for short-range wireless connectivity. However, as I don't own another device with Bluetooth (major geek points off, I know), and the Zodiac looks to be just prime for Internet stuff, I had to figure out way to get it online.

After a bit of searching and a bit of help from my pal Dan, I came across this wonderful resource over at PalmZone. That page includes instructions on how to set up Bluetooth on Palm OS devices in nearly every configuration conceivable.

The one I was interested in was using a Bluetooth USB Dongle (or "BUD") to share my PC's Internet access with my Zodiac. Well, the hardware was half the story -- the other half needed to make this happen was an app called Mocha PPP, which essentially provides PPP connectivity over a serial port. Or, in this case, the virtual serial port created by the BUD.

Anyway, to make a long story short, it worked -- in about 15 minutes I was surfing the web and getting my email on my Zodiac. However, the range was, as expected, pretty limited -- I couldn't roam further than about 10 feet from my PC before losing the connection (despite it being a Class 1 (100m) BUD). While the speed of the data connection was acceptable, I decided to return the BUD to the store. While it was an interesting experiment, it's just not very useful.

Instead, I'm waiting on SanDisk to release Palm OS drivers for their SD Wi-Fi card, which they've been promising now for nearly a year. But that's an entirely different soapbox.

Rohdesign has a post about a website devoted to Bluejacking, the practice of roaming around with your mobile or PDA trying to find active Bluetooth devices so you can secretly send them messages (then enjoying the confused look on the victim's face). The linked-to website has some, uh, interesting stories about doing just this, along with general instructions and some useful tips.

[Old man voice] In my day, this was called crank calling, except we were men enough to actually talk to the people we were harassing. None of this mamby-pamby text messaging crap. No sir, why we didn't even have text. We had to make do with cave painting and mono-syllabic grunts, and our teleophones were all pulse dialing to boot!

Nokia has admitted that hackers have cracked its N-Gage copy protection codes, allowing copied games to be traded over the Internet.

While Nokia hopes to sell up to 9 million units by the end of 2004, a key part of revenue comes from games, so this latest setback is critical to Nokia's bid to find a foothold in the mobile gaming market.

Telecom giant NTT DoCoMo has demonstrated a prototype wristband phone - called Finger Whisper - which works by transforming the user's hand into a phone, with a microphone on the wrist and a finger earpiece.

To start a call, the user touches forefinger to thumb, enabling voice-recognition dialling via a microphone in the wristband, which also allows calls out.

Calls coming in are converted by Finger Whisper into vibrations transmitted to the bones of the hand. Put your finger in your ear, and these vibrations are sent to the eardrum, and converted back to voice by the brain.

Ever needed to take a business call at home but not give out your home number? Hated juggling between multiple numbers? Cingular Wireless promises to make things easier with the FastForward cradle.

The patented device plugs into an electrical outlet. When a Cingular Wireless phone is inserted into the cradle, calls to the cellphone are forwarded automatically to a designated landline phone, while the cellphone’s battery is being re-charged. Remove the cellphone, and call forwarding is deactivated. Simple!

The $40 FastForward cradle is compatible with select Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Siemens phones. A $3 monthly package enables unlimited call forwarding capability...and also saves your cellphone minutes for use when you actually are on the go.

Looks like a winner to me!

I saw the FedEx truck on my way to work, pulled over, and convinced him to hand over my box. Intriguing how desperate cool new kit makes us, isn't it?

Anyway, I put up a page with some pics of the box and stuff, but it's not charged enough to get an idea of how well the device actually works yet. More as I know it.

News Flash! The first user we know about has received his production Tapwave Zodiac. Tapwave promised that Zodiacs would begin shipping "in late October," and it appears they met that deadline by getting some units out on the very last day of the month.

More info on the Zodiac can be found in these GearBits posts or at the Tapwave website. Recent reviews of the Zodiac have appeared in ExtremeTech and at Shacknews.

I just got back from 12 days of vacation. OK, it was Hawaii, if you must know (let the chorus of mock sympathies begin). While there, I found it difficult to maintain the high level of connectedness I've come to rely on in my daily life.

First, the hotel had no wireless access...anywhere. Not in the lobby and certainly not in the rooms. While this feature is common at better business hotels, I guess resorts don't feel that their guests are all that worried about it. Well, here's a note to all you resort owners: News Flash! We, your guests, want this feature even when we're on vacation. How do you expect us to be able to relax when we just know we'll be going back to face 1,000+ emails waiting for us?!

Second, the "business center" was a rather lame two-computer setup in a corner office. Internet access, like computer use in general, was an outrageous $5.00 plus $0.85 per minute! My one 17-minute use of the business center cost me nearly $20. While there were much cheaper Internet cafes around, they all required a drive to get there (not easily walkable).

Third, while I was able to rely heavily on my Kyocera 7135 Palm OS smartphone (pictured) for getting my email, downloading attachments and webpages was sloooow (I use Verizon's free dial-up Internet service). Also, composing longish emails using Graffiti is just painful. So, while I was able to keep up on my email, responding was much more limited. But, I have to say that Verizon's coverage on both Oahu and Maui was superb.

I know I'll look back on this trip with fond memories. But, had the hotel offered high-speed Wi-Fi access by the pool (or even [gasp!] down near the beach), I know I would have come away thinking this was perhaps one of the coolest hotels I'd stayed in. I mean, what would be better than a Mai Tai and Wi-Fi on Ka'uai?

Technology Review notes that researchers in Japan have demonstrated a 10-Mbps network using human bodies as Ethernet cables.

ElectAura-Net is a wireless technology that uses a combination of the electric field emanating from humans and a similar field emanating from special floor tiles.

A floor tile carrying a transceiver transmits data by first creating oscillations in its surrounding electric field. These oscillations are transmitted through the electric field of a person entering the effective field area, and into the electric field of another tile-transceiver, which receives the data.

NTT Docomo researchers are now using the principles demonstrated to develop portable human electric field oscillators to serve as the basis for personal area networks (PANs). The system is faster than 1-Mbps Bluetooth wireless or 4-Mbps IrDA infrared communication systems now used for PANs, and could be the basis for the next-generation communications medium between personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Several websites have posted initial impressions of their recently obtained Treo 600 smartphones from Handspring:

• Alex King seems to love his and he posted several photos of the contents of the box and a comparison to his Handspring Treo 300.
  
• Gizmodo says they have "...been getting a TON of email about the new Treo 600, mainly from readers who have gotten one and can't believe how good it is."
  
• TreoCentral got a 24-hour take-home preview and had many, many laudatory comments about the 600.
  

Update: While the Sprint Treo 600 has been launched to much acclaim, the GSM/GPRS version that is supposed to come out on T-Mobile has been delayed again.

In this mobile age characterized by the flavor-of-the-day feature, where the camcorder phone trumps the camera phone, it's refreshing to find a company whose business plan is based on the motto "Less is more."

The Cyclone phone, by New Horizons Technologies International (NHTI), is about as basic as you can get - but it works! It is recyclable and rechargeable, and in its guide as the 911+ emergency cell phone, can be powered by three regular AA batteries!

The five-ounce phone is packaged with nationwide minutes and retails for $39.99 (15 minutes); $49.99 (30 minutes); or $59.99 (60 minutes), and will be available at your local grocery, hardware store, or Kwikee Mart. Duracell, a major partner, will be marketing the phone alongside its battery displays.

The purchaser activates the phone himself by dialling a toll-free number. A live operator asks for his ESN (electronic serial number), and gives the customer his own phone number. Voila!

The low cost and simplicity means the phone will appeal to seniors and to parents with pre-teen children - who may need to phone home, but don't need to SMS. NHTI hopes people will buy the Cyclone like flashlights, and store them throughout the house, car, cottage, school locker or backpack....ready for use in the next emergency.

PalmInfocenter has a story about a new phone that Samsung is working on, the SGH-i505 (pictured). The SGH-i505 is a GSM clamshell phone based on Palm OS 5.2.1.

The nifty bits of the SGH-i505 are the high-res screen (320x320), the integrated VGA camera, and the fact that you can swivel the screen 180 degrees to lay it back down over the keypad (the first that we know of that lets you do that).

The story was broken first by msmobiles.com, which seems a bit odd, and is the source of the photo shown. Given that Samsung has recently delayed the SGH-i500, its previously announced GSM Palm OS 5 phone, perhaps the SGH-i505 is already set to replace it even before the SGH-i500 is ever released. Stranger things have happened, for sure.

New Scientist has a story about a new hybrid transistor developed by IBM researchers that would greatly improve the power efficiency of wireless devices.

"Ghavam Shahidi and colleagues from IBM's Watson Research Centre in New York claim the transistor could make wireless chips three times faster than current designs while using 80 per cent less power.

Bipolar transistors are used because they are good at amplifying low power radio signals but are typically much less efficient than ordinary microprocessor transistors. Using a 'silicon-on-insulator' layer to reduce the capacitance of the bipolar transistors, the IBM team improved the speed at which they can switch on and off."

Supposedly, the new transistor would find its way into wireless products like 3G mobile phones and handhelds, and would benefit wireless data-intensive operations like streaming.

Read the whole story at New Scientist.

CNET's Brian Cooley talks with Joni Blecher about the Handspring Treo 600 smartphone.

Watch the video here. My goodness, that thing is small!

Editorial comment: After watching the entire video, one starts to wonder how Joni Blecher got that job. Could she know less about the devices she reviews?

Some of our elected officials are caving into financially well-endowed lobbyists and waffling on the Number Portability Act that is slated to go into effect in November.

Consumer's Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, has a new website that makes it really easy to email your elected officials to let them know that you expect them to represent your wishes by keeping Number Portability on track.

EscapeCellHell.org is the place to go.

(Thanks, boingboing.net)

Yes, the Zodiac is finally available...at least for pre-orders. Tapwave has said that orders will be filled starting in October.

The newly updated tapwave.com website also has boatloads of new information on games, accessories, packages, etc.

I've got my pre-order in...what about you?

For those who just have to have the latest hip kit in their messenger bags, the Tapwave Zodiac will be going on sale (pre-order) Wednesday, September 17th at 7AM PST. Pre-orders can be placed at www.tapwave.com as of that morning.

Avid readers of GearBits will know that I'm particularly excited by the Zodiac. GearBits blog entries about this new Palm OS powered gaming device cum PDA can be found in this list of search results.

The photo to the right came out of the FCC application that Tapwave had to submit for the Zodiac. Tons of additional information, including a user manual, many photos, and lots of active discussion about the Zodiac can be found at the Tapwave_Users Yahoo! Group. But, you have to be a member of that group to access all the downloads, so go sign up today (it's free) and join the 300+ others who are making this the most active place to find out new information on the Zodiac.

A new video of the forthcoming Tapwave Zodiac is available at CNET TV:

Watch the Video Now.

Byron Connell, CEO of Tapwave, talks through some of the highlights of the device, including full SDIO compatibility for both expansion slots! Tapwave is also planning on supporting a community-oriented website once the Zodiac is launched.

Believe me, you will want one...you will need one of these things after seeing it in action. Tapwave will start taking pre-orders via its website on September 17th. You all can get in line behind me. Thanks to namorblah for the lead.

SanDisk has finally released its Secure Digital Wi-Fi 802.11b adapter (pictured).

The SD Wi-Fi adapter only currently supports PDAs running Pocket PC (SanDisk has a compatibility chart, which shows which Pocket PCs the adapter supports (apparently not even half of all Pocket PCs). Given that this card costs under $100 street (I saw it tonight for $94.95 online), it should sell well. Once Palm OS drivers are released, it should sell really well.

SanDisk has also promised that a combination 256 MB RAM / Wi-Fi card will be coming out this year. Yummy!

A few weeks ago I was sitting in a sweltering, decrepit former Coca-Cola bottling plant in rural Missouri talking with a good ole boy truck driver from southern Kentucky whose brother-in-law is a US treasury agent. How's that for a hook line? This driver was regaling me with a story about a run he had made from Atlanta to Richmond, KY driving a tractor trailer loaded with bales of money heading to the incinerator. He even had the M16-toting, stone-faced agent riding shotgun (literally) and several lead and chase cars escorting him on his non-stop run. "Great story", I thought. "I bet he's lying" was my next thought.

Then he said, "You know all those cops you see on the roadside pointing laser guns at you?"

"Sure, I see them everywhere", I said.

He leered a bit, moved in close, and lowered his voice. "They're not checking your speed you know. They're counting money."

Thinking I had not heard him correctly, I asked him to repeat himself.

"That's right!", he continued. "All of this new money has a little chip in it that lets the feds do a quick count with a special gun they aim at passing cars. Helps them catch the drug traffickers."

The story from there degraded into an argument with me calling BS in a big way. It's got to be BS, right?

Now go hit up Google with a search on RFID and money. Kind of scary isn't it?

Along the same lines as Mitch's Axis 2100, Gizmodo is reporting that Linksys has begun offering a new wireless (802.11b) webcam, the WVC11B , that permits streaming of 320x240 video using its own internal web server.

One of the nifty features is that it can be wall mounted or it can stand in its cradle, which provides both power and a LAN jack for wired connectivity.

When Linksys gets into a market, you know things are about to become domain of the everyman. For under $200 (the Axis 2100 cost upwards of $500 when it first came out, and it wasn't wireless), the WVC11B may bring a whole new range of customers, and applications, to life.

Perhaps my recent thoughts on privacy, especially those related to webcams, aren't so far-fetched.

The gaming hardware company Tapwave has announced that it will start making its forthcoming Zodiac device (pictured) available in late September. A preview of the device can be found at GoDoPlay.com.

The Zodiac, formerly called the Helix, is a handheld computing/gaming device powered by Palm OS 5.2 and sporting such tremendous hardware specs as a 480x320, 16-bit color user-rotatable screen, stereo speakers and headphone jack, dual SD expansion slots, user-replaceable rechargeable Li-polymer batteries, Bluetooth (for multi-player gaming) and a fast ARM processor (actual clock speed not yet released).

The unit will ship with 32 or 128 MB of RAM depending on the model purchased, and will cost either $299 or $399 directly from Tapwave's website. The Zodiac will not be sold in retail stores until some time in 2004.

A lot of excitement has been generated about this device, with most reactions claiming that the Zodiac has a definite edge over its rivals, the Nokia n'Gage and the Nintendo Gameboy Advance. Both gamers and PDA users are expressing significant interest in this cross-over device, which may, surprisingly enough, satisfy both user types equally well.

For more information, a dedicated Yahoo! Groups community for Tapwave's products already exists -- check out Tapwave_Users today.

According to New Scientist, origami techniques are providing cameras in cellphones with a much better focusing mechanism.

"Thanks to a novel and ultra-cheap micromotor technology, cellphone cameras should soon be able to zoom and focus with the same precision as the autofocusing lenses used in expensive stills cameras.

1 Limited of Cambridge, UK, has found a novel way to make a thin sheet of a piezoelectric ceramic material work like a motor. It can move whatever is placed on top of it, or it can be rolled into a cylinder to grasp and move a miniature camera lens."

Moving from fixed-focus to variable focus should provide a large improvement in picture quality. Of course, I'm not sure I'd put picture quality as my #1 concern when it comes to cellphones, but maybe that's just me.

Anyone who has ever had to manage a computer from a remote location has dreamed of being able to do it wirelessly via a handheld computer. The dream of fast, convenient, virtually unbounded remote management is made just a bit more realistic by virtue of Palm VNC.

Palm VNC is an application for Palm OS devices. It enables the user to control any PC (Windows, Unix, etc.) running the freely available VNC Server application, which permits two-way desktop control between the server (the PC running VNC Server that is being controlled) and the client (in this case, the Palm OS handheld running Palm VNC). Basically, the client user "sees" the desktop and controls it just as if he or she were sitting at the console.

As with many highly useful and open application standards, there are several different "flavors" of VNC out there. The original VNC was cooked up by some AT&T engineers in the UK. The latest build can be gotten from the official VNC site at RealVNC.com. Other variants on the VNC protocol, most of which are backward-compatible with VNC, include Tight VNC and UltraVNC.

And, yes, there are even a couple of VNC clients for Palm OS to be had. I have had tremendous success with Palm VNC 2.0. This works tremendously well on my Palm Tungsten C, and I've used it to access my home machine (Tight VNC server on Windows XP) via Wi-Fi on multiple occasions from various locations. Palm VNC 2.0 is a really nice continuation of the work originally done by Vladimir Minenko a few years ago, which has now been taken over by Harakan Software.

So, if you like the idea of being able to control various computers' desktops remotely over wireless from your handheld, give Palm VNC a try...you might be as hopelessly addicted to it as I am.

O'Reilly Network has an excellent article that demonstrates how easy it is to hack a so-called "secure" Wi-Fi network in about an hour and a half.

The network was set up as securely as 802.11b standards allow: closed (no SSID broadcasting), 128-bit WEP enabled, and MAC authentication. Then, the author walks through each step of the diagnostic process and provides links to each freely available software tool he uses.

Why is it that folks are protesting the use of RFID technology by companies like Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble, and others?

In case you haven't heard of RFID, it stands for Radio Frequency ID. The technology behind RFID is still being tweaked, but the idea is pretty straightforward. RFID tags are simple circuits that have some small amount of information (a few kb at most) embedded in them. These small tags "identify" themselves and broadcast their information when they pass within a few yards or feet of special radio-frequency sensors. The tags are inert until they receive power from the reader's wavefield. These RFID tags could be placed on things (e.g., pallets of shampoo or individual bags of dog food) so that products can be tracked throughout the supply chain and more accurate information can be had about inventory levels, locations of products in stores and warehouses, etc. Additionally, they could possibly be used in metro or rail passes, hotel door keys, etc. -- wherever a unique identifier is needed.

According to stories like "Privacy advocates call for RFID regulation" (CNET News.com), there is an organized and growing opposition to the further development and deployment of this technology (which is already in use by the US military). The opposition claims that RFID offers the significant potential for companies to invade our personal privacy more easily and extensively than they already do.

Even though I fully agree that privacy is something we need to protect, the RFID technology does not pose a more serious threat than anything else out there today for a few reasons.

First, getting a chip to broadcast its coded information requires a sensor. Installing these sensors everywhere is both expensive and troublesome. While a supermarket or department store might be able to recoup this expense, most businesses would not. A restaurant, for example, would be unlikely to be able to tag much of its products because they're eaten on-site. Moreover, the restaurant isn't going to have much interest in RFID tags a patron may already have on his/her person when he/she walks in, so what would be its financial return for installing these sensors?

Second, these sensors don't contain any information about you, just the products you purchase. They don't contain your social security number, your age, your address, or your credit card number. A large number of US shoppers have willingly signed up for discount cards at their neighborhood grocery stores. These cards effectively generate the same information that the RFID system would -- what you buy, when, and where. Obviously, a large number (perhaps a majority?) of US shoppers are willing to trade some privacy for cheaper groceries. While it's true that some tags can be re-written wirelessly (perhaps even using PDA or handheld computers), it's unlikely that tags on standard consumer items like toothpaste would have this capability.

Finally, RFID represents a potentially huge improvement in our ability to reduce prices and improve availability of the goods in our stores. By having better information about when and where products are at any given time, supply chain managers can make better decisions about purchasing, stock levels, renewal policies, etc., etc. Personally, if RFID helps the grocery store improve the likelihood that it has the products I want when I want them on its shelves, then I'm all for giving them some additional information.

Maybe it's just that I don't have anything to hide. Maybe I don't really care that anybody knows what I buy. Or maybe I'm just not paranoid enough for my own good. What do you think?

According to a post at pdaPhoneHome.com, Verizon Wireless is offering a $100 off the purchase of a new Kyocera 7135 smartphone (pictured).

The offer supposedly runs from 8/18/03 to 10/31/03, only applies to wireless service plans of $39.99/month or higher, and you must trade in a phone to get the deal.

It's not typical of me to include such a blatantly commercial post here on GearBits, but this sounds like a pretty sweet deal. $100 off "just because" is nothing to sneeze at.

So, if you've been considering the 7135 (it's what I carry), this might be a good opportunity to pick one up.

Just be warned: once you start carrying this, you will constantly be stopped by folks wanting to know what it is, how it works, where to get one, and so forth. This is not a good device for the ardent introvert.

Geeks can find truly bizarre ways to show the world their creativity. One oft-overlooked outlet is the SSID -- the "name" assigned to a wireless network.

Manufacturers of wireless access points often pre-configure their devices with SSID's that are either annoyingly banal or merely an advertisement. D-Link AP's are a good example of the former as their default SSID is, surprisingly, "default". Linksys takes the latter approach and uses "linksys" as its default SSID.

While it's always a good idea to change passwords, logins, and other security-related settings from the manufacturer defaults, some wireless network owners are using this opportunity to express themselves and give us wardrivers a peek into their personality. Here are some noteworthy SSIDs I've seen over the years:

keepdriving! -- seen near a busy intersection
cvsretail -- either this is the CVS store or some neighbor with a weird sense of humor
keepout -- apparently someone was feeling a bit grumpy
kapu4u -- seen near a Hawaiian resort ("kapu" is Hawaiian for "forbidden")
cockbite -- supposedly the dad asked the 14-year-old son to set up the WLAN (that'll teach him)
wireless fortress -- had no WEP activated (thanks, MikeW!)

I'll keep adding to this list and re-posting. So, do you have any good SSID's you've seen around?

In this article, CNET News.com reports on a report suggesting that increased mobile phone sales are leading to the decline in PDA sales:

"The market for mobile phones is increasingly encroaching on the market for handheld organizers, leading to the second straight year of decline in organizer shipments, according to a report from research firm IDC.

So-called "converged" mobile phones, which combine organizer functions with the ability to make phone calls, are taking customers away from the handheld device market, IDC said Monday. For 2003, worldwide shipments are expected to decline 8.4 percent, to 11.35 million units from 12.4 million units last year."

If you take a different perspective -- that "converged mobile devices" are both phones and PDAs, then one might conclude that the PDA market is doing well...actually growing. It's not clear why IDC arbitrarily decided that anything that can be used as a cellular phone is a "phone" -- I think the lines separating the various categories are getting too blurred to make this type of report very useful.

Think of the Palm Tungsten W (pictured at the right). Out of the box, it can be used to place voice calls, but it's primary mission in life is as a wireless data device. Is this a "phone?" It's not clear from IDC's report whether this is counted or not (I believe it would be).

OK, then, what about any of the PDAs that have Wi-Fi built-in? These can be used for voice-over-IP (VOIP), meaning you could place a voice call if you're within an active Wi-Fi network with an Internet connection. Is that a phone? If not, why not? Or, what about the phones that have merely a bare-bones calendar and address book? Are those considered "converged devices?" Again, it's not clear from the IDC report what the criteria truly are. In fact, one would nearly need to go device-by-device to establish which category each fits into and why.

So, as the lines between device categories continue to blur, and "converged device" has less and less meaning every day, I'll continue to take reports like this one from IDC with a huge grain of salt. Or, better yet, perhaps we should just start ignoring them totally. Maybe then these research/consulting houses would be forced to come up with something more useful than the omnipresent "exponential growth" curve that they seem to use to describe every technology on the horizon.

But then again, if they showed what a reasonably clued in person expects for most new technologies, many fewer copies of their reports would be sold -- nobody is interested in reading about things that are headed into obscurity. How do you spell "conflict of interest" again?

The D-Link DWL-800AP+ is an 802.11b Wi-Fi access point with a special trick up its sleeve. D-Link actually bills this device as a "Wireless Range Extender," since its primary function is to relay Wi-Fi signals to a main access point somewhere else in the wireless network.

Imagine that you have an access point on the second floor of your house, but the Wi-Fi signal doesn't make it down to the basement. You could place the DWL-800AP+ on the first floor (all it needs is a power outlet) and it would rebroadcast the signal from the main access point on down to the basement (plus, the first floor would then be doubly covered). Make sense?

Setting up the DWL-800AP+ was mostly painless. The only thing tough to figure out was telling the repeater the right MAC address (my main access point has three -- Ethernet, WAN, and wireless) to re-broadcast. If you guessed "Ethernet," congratulations, you win.

Be warned, however: the DWL-800AP+ doesn't work with all access points. Make sure you check the D-Link FAQs for a list of supported access points. The one I'm using with it is the D-Link DI-614+ Wireless Router, and it seems to work just great. Plus, since both of these devices are compatible with D-Link's proprietary AirPlus standard which promises speeds up to 22 Mmps (100% faster than 802.11b's standard 11 Mbps). As always, YMMV.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the improvement. My back deck now has 100% Wi-Fi coverage, which means that sitting out back and sipping a tall cool drink while browsing the web (or updating GearBits) can't be too far off. Now all I need to figure out is how to hook up my grill to the WLAN...hmm...

In this post, I mentioned that I'd report back on my experience warwalking/wardriving with the Palm Tungsten|C handheld.

Using an application called Netchaser, I've been really impressed at how easy it is to find wireless networks. Armed with nothing more than the Tungsten, I can walk or drive, and about everywhere I go, there are Wi-Fi networks to be found.

Last night, I drove my daily 5 mile commute with the Tungsten sitting on the passenger seat. In scan mode, Netchaser keeps the handheld on and actively searching -- no user intervention is needed (which is good, as I wouldn't want to be fiddling with a PDA while driving). Netchaser will beep and/or vibrate when a new network is found.

In that short trip, I drove through 14 networks, 10 of which were completely unencrypted (i.e., no WEP). Some of the SSID's (network names) were "Charlotte's Wireless Network," "Christy's laptop," (?) and "Moe." Unfortunately, a lot of folks haven't heard that it's a good idea to change the default settings on your router/AP -- 6 of the 14 were named either "linksys" or "wireless." Oh, well, maybe if they read the manual they'd end up figuring out how to turn on WEP too, and then that wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

In summary, wardriving/warwalking with the Tungsten|C is easy and terrific. While I wish it was more sensitive in terms of its Wi-Fi reception, this is a great first version of a Palm OS handheld with integrated Wi-Fi.

While I still recommend going with 802.11g (for a variety of reasons), if you have no choice but to use 802.11b (Wi-Fi), then this product might be of interest.

The Netgear MA111 Wireless USB Adapter is a real peach of a product. It's small -- about the size of one of those keychain USB flash drives -- and it's almost idiot-proof (although some idiots are fairly inventive when it comes to screwing things up). Just plug it in a USB port and away you go. If you're running Windows XP, you have a choice to use either Windows' Wi-Fi management or you can use Netgear's included utility (Netgear's is better, IMHO).

You can either use it as a stub adapter (by itself) or you can use it with the included 3-foot cable. The cable gives you additional placement flexibility in case your Wi-Fi coverage isn't very good. For about $50 (street), it's a reasonably priced alternative to other adapters that are, almost without exception, larger.

I've been using one of these for a few weeks and it gets really good reception. I thought I would be sacrificing reception sensitivity because of the unit's small size, but I was wrong. The Netgear MA111 gets a big thumbs up.

A report from researchers at the Institut d'Informatique et Mathématiques Appliquées de Grenoble in France have found that a single user with a bad connection can dramatically slow down the access for all users of an 802.11b wireless network.

If someone connected to a Wi-Fi network at, say, 1 Mbps (the slowest transmission rate), then the transmission protocol used by the 802.11b access point will degrade everyone else using the same network to that slower speed. This happens even if another user has a strong enough signal to support the full 11 Mbps that 802.11b supports.

Given that the 802.11g standard is about 5X faster than 802.11b, and it does not suffer from this same failing, anyone thinking about setting up a new network (or upgrading an old one) should definitely steer towards 802.11g even if it is slightly more expensive. Read the full story...

CNN has an interesting story on how cellphones are replacing landlines even faster than most people, at least most people here in the US, would have imagined. Today, 43% of all US phones are wireless, and we trail the rest of the world. One interesting fact: lesser developed nations are relying on wireless more than developed nations are. Take Cambodia, for example, where 90% of all phones are cellular. Read the whole story here.

New Scientist has a story about 'point-and-connect' links for wireless devices. Being developed by Sony, the system uses a camera on a laptop to identify other devices on the network.

"A code displayed on a small sticker attached to each device is identified by the laptop's camera. Software running on the laptop then automatically locates the device on the network."

Although it's an intriguing idea, I'm not sure it's all that much easier than current methods, especially if you have to be physically near what you're connecting to.

Interestingly, optical recognition in the consumer space seems suddenly hot -- ZDnet has a story about how cameraphones can be used to purchase things just by snapping a picture of them. Now that's cool.

According to CNN Money and Brighthand, the forthcoming device from Tapwave is being renamed from "Helix" to "Zodiac." Admittedly, Helix was a development name, but it was what the company used at its launch back in May.

The Bluetooth-equipped Zodiac will supposedly come out in two models: a $299 unit with 32 MB of RAM and a $399 unit with 128 MB of RAM (the most in any Palm OS PDA available). More information on the Zodiac can be found at Tapwave's website. There is also already a Yahoo! Group dedicated to this soon-to-be-released device -- visit the Tapwave_Users website now (requires Yahoo! login).

Follow-up: I just now found out that Popular Mechanics published a story about the Zodiac way back a week ago today on July 22nd. Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?!

Ever heard of Actimates? Unless you have young children, probably not. In a nutshell, Actimates are little RF-controlled robots that look like popular children's characters, i.e., Barney, Teletubbies, Arthur and D.W. We stumbled upon an Actimates Barney at a local yard sale and figured it was worth the 5 bucks because our daughter loves him. He was part of a "PC Pack" which includes a CD-ROM and an RF sender that hooks to your PC's game port. I popped in some batteries, installed the hardware and software on a Win2K box and when it didn't work I figured it was still a good toy for the money. He could talk and play games and sing. The child was happy.

My wife wanted more. Actimates also works with the "TV Pack" and specially formatted video tapes (of which we have lots) and broadcasts. I found one cheap on eBay and hooked it up to my VCR's video out jack. Not expecting much, I plopped the daughter in front of the tube, pushed in an Actimates tape and sat down to watch.

Amazing stuff! This little toy runs a commentary on the video reminiscent of MST3K. He knows all the characters, sings the songs, and quips about this and that while the whole time gesturing with his arms and head. It's pretty cool and I'm sure it's ultra cool if you're two. It was a rousing success with my little one and she loves watching videos with Barney now. In fact, she usually demands it.

Unfortunately, Microsoft no longer sells Actimates, no new Actimates tapes are being produced and the special broadcasts are no more. I have no clue why the venture failed, but it seems that Microsoft, like Sony, suffers from CADD (Corporate Attention Deficit Disorder). They are on to the next potential profit center. At least they left something in their huge wake that my little girl enjoys.

Yesterday, I received a Tungsten C from Palm Solutions Group to try out for a while. In case you've been under a rock for a while, this bad boy runs Palm OS 5.2.1 and comes with a 400 MHz ARM processor, 64 MB of RAM, a Secure Digital/MMC slot, a 320x320 resolution transflective display, a thumbboard, and built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b networking.

The display on this is the best I've seen on any handheld ever. I've heard that same comment from nearly every person who's seen it -- it's that good. The 400 MHz CPU makes it just scream -- HotSyncs that would normally take minutes on my Kyocera 7135 (a 33 MHz Dragonball device) take less than 10 seconds with the Tungsten C. The thumbboard means that all those emails and instant messages you send via Wi-Fi will be entered quickly and accurately -- no more stylus cramps.

There are two downsides of the Tungsten C. The first is Wi-Fi sensitivity. Compared to most other Wi-Fi devices I've tried, this PDA is a bit lacking in being able to detect faint network signals. As a comparison, a HandEra 330 with a Symbol Wireless Networker CompactFlash Wi-Fi adapter (the most powerful Wi-Fi reception in a handheld solution I've found) still gets about 30% signal strength when the Tungsten C drops the signal entirely.

The other weakness of the Tungsten C is the headphone jack -- it's mono. With all this horsepower that could be used for listening to MP3s, you'd think a nice stereo headphone jack would be obvious. The folks at Palm, believing that this was purely an enterprise device, felt that a mono headset for use with VOIP would be better received. I think they're finding that to be a silly assumption.

Anyway...I'll post more about warwalking and wardriving with my Tungsten C and a really cool WLAN sniffer called Netchaser from Bits & Bolts Software (think Netstumbler for Palm OS). In the meantime, check out some reviews of the Palm Tungsten C at MemoWare (by our very own Ken Rhee!), Brighthand, Infosync, and The New York Times (by David Pogue).

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, has released information on the management team that will be heading up his new startup Wheels of Zeus. News.com has the full story.

Two things are of interest (at least to me):
1) One of the management team is Gina Clark, who was previously at PalmSource. Gina worked closely to help get the Palm OS User Council (of which I'm a member) off the ground back in 2001.

2) The News.com article states that not much is known about Wheels of Zeus other than it involves some form of wireless services. Indeed, the company website offers relatively little information about the nature or form of what services WOZ will deliver.

Well, we may be able to shed some light on the nature of these services. It appears that Wheels of Zeus will let you geographically track physical objects and/or people in real time. For example, if you want to be alerted if your dog leaves your yard, you can attach a WOZ tag to his collar and set up the system to call your cell when that tag leaves the boundaries of your yard. Pretty cool...I hope it actually gets launched so we can try it out.

Following are a series of screenshots from a demo of Wheels of Zeus. It's all web-based, so these are browser screenshots. They are dated March 10, 2003, so things may have (and likely have) changed since then. But, it gives us some interesting behind-the-scenes looks at this intriguing new wireless service from Mr. Wozniak.

Note that these will pop up in a new browser window:
• Screenshot 1 - List of user's current tags
• Screenshot 2 - "Add a New Tag" screen
• Screenshot 3 - Creating a new alert
• Screenshot 4 - Defining a geographic zone
• Screenshot 5 - List of user's current notifications
• Screenshot 6 - An active alert screen
• Screenshot 7 - Current real-time status of user's tags
• Screenshot 8 - Initial user menu (isn't that kid one of the Hanson's?)
• Screenshot 9 - A help screen

Are you one of the 692,253 subscribers (as of 6/30/2003) to XM Radio? I am and have been giving it a whirl for a couple of months. I was enjoying those 100 channels so much in my car that I just had to have the XMPCR. The XMPCR is a $69 hardware/software combination that brings XM Radio to your computer without eating up bandwidth. The shockingly small box comes with a USB-connected tuner, an antenna and a CD-ROM with all the drivers and software to get things running on a Windows computer. There is aftermarket software available for the Mac OS, Linux, FreeBSD, and there are already Windows alternatives.

So far, my experience with the XMPCR has been painless. It installed without a hitch and has never had a signal outage. I am on the family plan with XM so my two receivers cost me $17 per month. I have the XMPCR on nine hours a day and my Alpine about one hour per day (during the work week). That works out to roughly $0.08 per hour which is well worth it if I can stay away from the spreading menace of Clear Channel Communications.

With a little creativity you can even record your favorite stuff right to MP3 using something like Total Recorder. There is also a little project underway to equip the XMPCR with a digital output for superior sound quality and analog-free recording. The possibilities are endless and the entry fee is small. Great stuff.

Guglielmo Marconi would have been amazed. A combination of two diminutive devices, shown to the right, now lets anyone walk around with a personal radio station in his pocket.

The white device on the top is the Belkin TuneCast FM Transmitter. It will broadcast on four frequencies: 88.1, 88.3, 88.5, and 88.7 MHz. Although it was designed to aesthetically match an iPod, it will work with any device that has a 1/8" headphone or line out jack. It runs on 2 'AAA' cells (rechargeables work fine).

The shiny device on the bottom is the MPIO/Digitalway FL100 MP3 Player (see that link for my blog entry devoted to the FL100). It plays MP3s, tunes FM stations, records voice notes, and records off of the radio -- amazingly versatile for a 1.5 oz. device. It runs on a single 'AAA' cell. The battery and the memory card in the photo are shown for scale.

So, imagine walking around with virtually unlimited music in your pocket (the FL100 takes SD cards up to 512 MB) and being able to broadcast it to any FM receiver. Granted, the range of the TuneCast unit is a bit short -- roughly 30' line of sight in my usage testing -- but the fact that you can do this at all is pretty cool.

So, the total weight of this personal radio station, including batteries and an SD memory card, is a smidge over 4 oz. (113 g). Granted, while any personal music player could be used in this setup, the FL100 is the smallest I've seen to include an SD card slot. Now, what happens if I set the FL100's FM tuner to the same frequency as the TuneCast is set to broadcast on? Hmm...

Technophiles are generally pretty interesting folks, I've come to realize. We all have particular idiosyncracies and preferences that make it extremely unlikely for two of us to have exactly similar usage patterns, technology choices, etc. Just to illustrate my own pattern of choices, here's a brief recap of the tech I employ in a typical day.

Wake up -- I use a $10 GE clock-radio that I got at a discount department store about 10 years ago. I was so impressed at the radio sensitivity (it can tune stations even my $400 Yamaha receiver can't), I bought a second as back-up. For $10, it's a steal.

Check email -- my first real "tech" interaction of the day is usually with a Pocket PC, a Compaq iPaq 3670 with PC Card sled and D-Link Wi-Fi adapter. I check my various email accounts with this thing (Pocket Inbox is a phenomenal email app), check the weather, etc. before I get out of bed. The charging cradle is a permanent fixture on my nightstand, since I no longer sync this with a PC. This is about the closest thing to a technology "appliance" I've found to be actually useful.

Shower, get dressed, wolf down breakfast (optional) -- no real tech involved here :-( [Note to self: Work on this.]

Pack for work -- stick necessary tech into briefcase for the day at the office. This usually consists of my Kyocera 7135 and my HandEra 330, although the 330 is seeming less and less necessary given the really nice capabilities of the 7135 (and the EOL issued for all HandEra devices).

Drive to work -- I invested in a sweet piece of car stereo equipment, the Alpine CDA-7894 in-dash receiver. This unit plays the full complement of digital discs (except DVD) and decodes MP3. Given that I have over 45 GB of MP3s (all legal, ripped from CDs we own), this is a really nice way to access my music while in my car. Not only does the receiver sound great, it really does a fairly stellar job at handling MP3 data. I still think there's a big opportunity for high-res after-market head units (to display the track name, artist, etc. all simultaneously), but those still seem to be fairly rare. Given that it's an Alpine, the tuner is just excellent, especially good for pulling in WOXY (alternative) and WNKU (alternative/folk + NPR).

At work -- While at my office, I interact with a lot of standard-issue university technology. Fairly banal Dell desktop with CRT monitor, etc. -- a pretty typical arrangement. My pride and joy in my personal office is my HP G85 4-in-1 printer/scanner/fax/copier. It does a really stellar job at all four functions (well, never tried the fax function, but I assume it's stellar). I use the snot out of the sheet-feeder for scanning multi-page documents -- works great...highly recommended. The bane of my existence at work is our office copier...some lame, fickle Xerox piece of crap. This hunk of junk, more than anything else, has inspired me to go as paperless as is reasonably possible. Knowing I'm helping conserve trees also makes me feel good about using bits instead of paper.

Back at home -- home for the evening and I rely on all the tech here in my home. I have a mixed wired/wireless LAN that ties together 2 PCs, 1 laptop, and 2 handhelds (1 Pocket PC and 1 Palm OS device). Internet access is via RoadRunner cable broadband, which is being distributed to all the connected devices. My main computer at home is a custom/self-built desktop, and the other desktop is my MP3 server (I'll talk more about this later). I have our family room TV and stereo system tied into the MP3 server, so I can browse or whatever while listening to our music collection -- a pretty nice setup. My main complaint is the resolution on our television is really poor. It's a 27" Sony Trinitron, so it puts out like 550 lines of resolution. Needless to say, I really want one of the new true 1920x1080 HDTV LCD TVs that should be hitting store shelves later this year (yum!). To control the MP3 server, which is in the basement, while I'm sitting in front of the family room TV, I rely on a Gyration wireless mouse/keyboard setup -- this is some really trick hardware if you want to have a nearly invisible common room computing setup.

In bed -- prior to hitting the hay, I will often do some minor computing in bed. This is done via the laptop (which I'm typing on now) or using one of the handhelds. Generally, I'm just doing a blog entry, checking email/weather, or IM'ing with some friends (or some combo of those). While I generally like the apps better on my PalmOS devices, their lack of multi-tasking in the OS really bites in this case -- I can't keep an IRC/IM connection open while I do something else (check email, calendar, etc.). I really hope OS6 fixes this.

Well, that's about it. I'll talk more about the MP3 server another time, for I'm pretty happy with that particular piece of my home setup. Have comparable usage patterns or something that differs dramatically? Leave me a note!

I want some Miss America/World/Universe contestant to say that her dream for a better world is ubiquitous high-speed wireless service across the globe. I'd vote for her in a second.

Wireless networking is just about the best thing since...um...home broadband access. If you don't have some flavor of Wi-Fi in your home or workplace or your local coffee shop, you are missing out on a truly amazing experience. This technology has gotten so cheap now that there's nearly no cost-based reason to wire a home for a LAN. Security? Sure, wired is safer. Speed? Sure, wired is faster, but with 802.11g hardware now available, the speed differential isn't likely to matter to most folks. Simplicity? Sure, wired is easier, but the gap is shrinking pretty quickly as new Wi-Fi hardware and OS's become better able to lead even the most thick-headed novice through setup in a few minutes.

What I don't understand is why more mobile devices don't have some form of wireless built in. Laptops surely have jumped on the bandwagon, with nearly every manufacturer offering built-in Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth in many models. Some Pocket PC PDAs, like the Toshiba e740 and the iPaq h5450 also have Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth as part of the hardware. So what the heck is keeping Palm OS device makers from doing the same thing? Sure, Sony has a Compactflash Wi-Fi card with proprietary drivers for its NX and NZ lines, and HandEra has long since offered Wi-Fi drivers for its PDAs, but if you want Wi-Fi, that's it. A few SecureDigital Wi-Fi adapters were announced at CES 2003, but so far none have made it to shelves. The Palm Tungsten T has integrated Bluetooth, but so far, I've yet to find any evidence that Bluetooth is being heavily used for anything on any widespread basis. So, if you're a Palm OS devotee, your options are limited to add-on cards. Why can't somebody release a device with Wi-Fi built in??? OK, enough ranting.

The other prominent option for wireless data is over a cellular network, and the options for devices like this have exploded recently. For example, in my household, we have both a Treo 270 from Handspring and a Kyocera 7135. These are pretty amazing devices for different reasons. The Treo acts and feels very much like a wireless PDA with secondary voice functionality, whereas the 7135 feels like a cellular phone with PDA capabilities grafted on. When people see them, they react in two ways: PDA users like the Treo and phone people like the 7135. I like both...a lot, and more so every day I use them. More on them another time.

To sum up, wireless is good and more device makers need to realize that some form of wireless is almost necessary from this point on, at least in mid- and upper-range devices. Let's hope that's not news to anyone making decisions in any consumer electronics firms.