My HP Mini 1000 Netbook Review

My mobile lifestyle keeps getting more mobile so I recently picked up an HP Mini 1000 netbook since my N800 internet tablet was not cutting it anymore. Not only had the OS become a hog and unstable and I was not able to do the firmware upgrade, the battery seemed to be going bad and lastly not having a keyboard made it almost useless for emails/IM on my commute. I'm not sure if I will keep it or craiglist it since it may come in handy for overseas trips for quick email and skyping. Back to HP Mini - Originally I thought about getting the new macbook Pro but that was going to run me almost $3k! and having a perfectly fine maxed out G4 Mac desktop at home, apple not having a net book out yet(although rumors exist they will) made the decision to go with a $349 net book easy and even easier when the possibility of maybe hacking it into OS X netbook as its been done with this dell mini

I think the HP Mini is the nicest out of all the netbooks out there compared to the ACER/Asus/MSI brand names available @ bestbuy. It has a nice glossy finish, 1" thin and only 2.25lb, 2 USB ports and SD slot.

For the ladies that need something fashionable check out the Vivienne Tam edition, its pretty sexy but be ready to pay twice as much. Looking good is not cheap.

I decided to upgrade the standard 1GB DDR2 mem to 2 GB which brought it to a final price of $475. After having my IT guru smutz2k wipe off XP home edition and install XP on it (making it more secure) I went ahead and paid for the premium version of Joikuspot (had been using joikuspot light) and started sharing my 3G connection off my nokia E71 to the net book and its working great! Not only does the commute go by a lot faster but I'm able to do work just fine (I'm writing this on my way home now actually)

If you are looking for something small and portable net book is the way to go (too bad apple doesn't have one out since I don't love PCs) Its a great little machine to do email, IM, web browsing office docs, and more. It's a perfect mobile companion and if you have a 3G phone that you can connect through you will enjoy near WiFi speeds everywhere there is 3G coverage (or just jump onto any WiFi hotspot). Lastly, even if you are not connected on your commute you can still use it offline or what the hell you could just relax and watch a movie off your SD or USB thumb drive.

Below is a youtube video of the HP mini

Google Love update: Google maps and Gmail SMS

I figure I would include two updates from two Google products I use and love dearly: Gmail and Google maps, seriously how did we survive before google maps and gmail? oh thats right we stopped and asked for directions and talked to each other vs. Gchatting all day.

-Send SMS from Gmail lets you send SMS text messages right from Gmail (this makes me want to actually sync my address book with gmail contacts)
-Google Maps Street View now available for Windows Mobile and symbian S60(nokia)
walking directions is also another new feature available, no excuses to get lost now!

Best of How To Hacks for 2008

As 2008 is coming to an end most people spend their time putting together x-mas wish lists. I actually enjoy looking back and seeing how far we've come in technology in a year. I'll save that for another post but a similar list was put together over at one of my fav blogs lifehacker.
Want to turn that iPod into an iPhone? Want to playback dvd's on your Wii? Want your iPhone to push email to you for free? Head over and see their list of the most popular how to-features of 08

Its an Amazon out there..well on your iphone at least

As I was browsing through amazon I found out they now have an app for the iPhone - so what? Well the amazon app not only lets you browse and buy items from your iPhone  but the feature I found interesting was the "amazon remembers" feature. This feature allows you to take a picture of an item you may see at the mall with your iPhone and send it to amazon, (I do this already to remind myself of price or color of an item) it will then get added to your "remember" list (sorta like a wish list) and in addition amazon will search for similar items for sale and notify you.  Talk about searching for the best price?

New Phone, New blogs, New Apps: The nokia E71

I finally upgraded to the Nokia E71 and are loving every bit of it. The 3G speeds make such a difference on my email downloads, and web searches. The GPS has come in handy too. The phone also runs a bit smoother and the new layout of the UI and design of the phone are top notch. I have been using the E series phones from the very first one;  E61, E61i and now E71 and can tell you this one is by far the best and will probably keep me happy for a very long time.

As I write this I'm already seeing leaked pics  of an E71? and E75?!   Thats technology for you..always 10 step ahead of your wallet.  From the leaked pics the E75 looks to be getting a slider QWERTY which may make the phone a little thicker.  Luckily for me E71 seems to only be receiving a new color. Since upgrading I'm finding new blogs covering specifically the E71 - here is a list of the few I have come across so far:

- Nokia E71 blog

-E71 Fanatics

These two blogs have been great in finding new themes, and apps like mobbler which is a last.fm player for the E71, a music service I have been using for a while on the N800

To become ONE - Symbian and Android OS to merge?

It seems like that is the fate of these two popular open source mobile operating systems. Even though it doesn't make much sense from Nokia's perspective since the Symbian OS has been around for quite some time and is established and successful. Google's Android is still an infant in the eyes of developers. So far developers are the only ones that have gotten to preview Google's Android. I think there is definite benefit for these two in working together as they have been for some time (the Nokia N800/810 tablet comes loaded with Google talk, and Google as the default search engine) but as of today it would benefit android more than Nokia which has the largest share of smartphones in the market. However Google is the popular rich kid who everyone wants to be friends with while Nokia smartphones here in the U.S are still not as cool due to the fact that carriers like AT&T and Tmobile hand pick which Nokia phones they want to carry. So lets just say that not all the cool Nokia phones make it over to the states.

The New iphone 3G still sucks

If you haven't heard Apple announced the much anticipated, rumored iPhone 3G this week at their WWDC conference. I followed the coverage closely via engadget and found a secret audio feed as well. With 3G, GPS and at $199! I put my name down for one but much like last time now that the dust is settling I am staying iPhone free again. There is plenty of coverage so I wont go into many details but I will give my personal reasons why you wont see me in line come July 11th.

-Made of plastic!? Rather than metal like before..get ready to see plenty of scratches and cracks

-Still no MMS support or video recording, that means you can't record video. The iPhone's camera is only 2mp, has no flash and you wont be able to send or receive pictures.

-Although battery life has inproved tremendously the phone is still sealed and you are not able to swipe dead batteries on the go, so dont leave home without your charger.

-GPS is new but as of today you wont be able to use for navigation purposes?!  It's basically Google maps with my location on steroids. Nothing else!

-3G means faster data speeds to browse the web on it but at what price? at&t has hiked up the data plan for the iPhone to $30 and that doesn't include SMS! So it's $10 higher than before. I'm grandfather into a $19 unlimited data/sms plan and for me to loose that is absurd.

So if you think the iphone at $199 is a steal, dont be fooled because you will probably end up paying more in the long run because of the increase in cost of the data plan. While the iphone 3G is a slightly better phone than the last version it's still not there.

U.S. open goes High tech

If you were not able to make the U.S Open this week in San Diego there is still ways to catch it live online at espn.com where they've been streaming live coverage in near HD. In addition to the live video feed, the player comes with stats, fan feedback, interviews, and live scoring.

For those that made it the experience has been enhanced by the use of high tech multimedia devices and this makes me even more jealous I'm not there. Championship Vision, is what these little gadgets are called and they take the whole experience to a new level of interactivity. The handheld devices by Lvis and myLEADERBOARD track championship play offering live video/audio feed from up to 8 camera angles and up to the minute stats among other services like instant replay, all from the palm of your hands. Pretty cool.

Mac OS X Sync Google contacts

Up until now I've been syncing my google calendar flawlessly with iCal and my Nokia e61i using goosync Their premium account lets you sync contacts too but I've been using the free account - actually the main reason I'm not syncing contacts is because google does not give you the option to disable the add recipient of all the email addresses you've used at one point or another. I don't really want to keep an email address of someone I emailed once. I recently imported my contacts from gmail to Mail and had over 1000 contacts to erase. Google's new Contact Sync still doesn't address this issue but at least it keeps it synced without the need to export/import contacts, so if you always email the same people or don't mind having the contact info of someone you bought a Wii off craigslist then it may just be fine for you. Read the FAQ though it seems to have too many setbacks in addition to only working with iPhones and iPod touch by default which is pretty lame, but there is already a way around this here its not a walk in the park but it gets it done. I'm just going to keep importing/exporting like it's 1999 until they give users a lot more control over what contacts to sync on any device.

Wii Fit says I'm 47?!

I picked up a Wii fit yesterday and after I set it up it told me I was overweight and had the characteristics of a 47 year old! I couldn't let a game tell me that so I started right away and setup a goal to loose a certain amount in 2 weeks - the wii will keep track of this. Overall the game is pretty sweet. I would have to say that my favorite has to be the balance games like ski salom and soccer, but I haven't fully played all the other games yet but soon enough I was sweating.
While some say that its not a true workout and I'm not saying it is, it definately burns some calories and most of all its fun. I'm actually looking forward to getting home and playing again today - something I cant say for going to the gym. There are also more games that are "Balance Board-compatible" some are already annouced EA' Skate It, Bandai Namco's We Ski, THQ's cheerleader game and I'm sure more will come out. There are already balance board hacks out there - like using the board to surf Google Earth with a hacked Nintendo Wii Board (video below) Im glad I picked it up.

Full HD video over USB or WLAN!

Thanks to Nokia's project  "noBound" this may come a reality sooner than later.  We are all "bound" in one way or another to our smart phones.  Not only are we bound to these wireless devices (mostly to be connected to the world) but we also have content on them (everything from pictures, short vids to full movies) that we like to share but we are in the HD era.  Just look at sites like hulu.com which features  HD content, even P2P apps like Vuze (azureus) . We love our cellphones  and we all love HD content on our HD plasmas and noBounds brings both of these technologies together by letting you pair a cell phone or handheld device up with any display, even your shiny plasma at 30 frames per second over USB or WLAN. Click play on the demo video below to see it in action. I can not wait to be able to do this on my Nokia N800!

noBounds! - blast Smartphones display bounds! from Bernd Steinke on Vimeo.

Mac Users: Opening UIF files on OSX

For those Mac users out there that end up with UIF files (a proprietary file format that works only in windows) and  have no access to a PC to convert it to a dmg check out this cool little app uif2iso for Mac  that lets you convert them. I worked like a charm for me!

Multi calendars synced! Nokia e61, iCal and Google Calendar

My life's schedules are spread all over the place. Until recently outlook on a PC, iCal on the Mac, GoogleCal with my girlfriend and the calendar on my nokia e61. While it worked ok I had a few incidents where appointments disappeared or were in one calendar but not on the other.

Tonight  I have come one step closer to "sync heaven" I followed most of the advice from Puramu at ITtoolbox I did everything but use isync to sync my phone to iCal (the needed plugin was $15) which I didn't feel like I truly needed since goosync did what I wanted and over the air.

The setup goes something like this: (this is my personal setup so check Puramu's post for the orginal setup that may work better for you)

-I have iCal subscribed to my Google Calendar - I can see my appointments on iCal but can't make changes to it. (I am basically using that just to get alarms and see it on my desktop without having to open a browser) if you want to the two way sync between iCal and Google Calendar check out/purchase spanning sync

-I'm using goosync  which is free to sync between the phone and Google calendar, its easy and over the air (so I don't need to bluetooth sync it with isync, I can easily add stuff on my phone and sync over the air to my Google calendar which will then automatically update iCal) 

This setup works for me because I enter most of my meetings while on the phone and on the go but if you are more of a desktop jockey you may need spanning sync and the isync plugin.

R.I.P HD DVD - the battle is over

....and blue ray came out on top.  Toshiba announced yesterday it will discontinue HD DVD production. while I'm sad for Toshiba and HD DVD supporters Im kinda happy this battle is over. I had been holding off buying a new dvd player because of the battle between the two formats but was willing to hold off on to it settle down. Like others I also saw this coming. Most recently Warner Bros made the decision to back Blu-ray and then Wal-mart (the largest U.S retailer) also picked Blu-ray over HD DVD last week.  and it was game over.  

Order your starbucks from your iphone

I saw this concept earlier this month and was wowed by the fact that this isn't out yet or a more formal announcement has been made. The apple-starbucks relationship has been there since the iPhone but now with at&t taking over the wi-fi service at starbucks (previously offered by tmobile)this makes a lot of sense. While its only a concept for now and all I have seen are snapshots of the screenshots it looks like it would only work while on the Wi-Fi spot at your local starbucks which doesn't make much sense. If anything I would want to place an order before I arrive at starbucks, doesn't that make more sense? Either way I think this application would be a sweet deal for all parties involved and make it easier for some of you that own an iPhone. I on the other hand will still have to wait in line and actually exchange words with my local barista as I own a nokia :\ to look at some pretty screenshots head over here

shake n bake? your nokia n95

 shake it but don't bake it..shakeme is a symbian application for the nokia n95 that lets you do all the following things by just shaking the phone:

keylock: lock and unlock keypad by shaking the phone

bluetooth: on/off bluetooth state by shaking the phone

silent: on/off silent profile by shaking the phone 

backlight: switch backlight on by shaking your phone

shakeme is not the only appliction being developed by Samir I was also pretty impreseed by the other apps like shutup(when the phone is ringing you can silent it by flipping over the phone) NokMote (detects movement of the phone to control games very much like the wii remote) and rotateMe (allows you to switch the phone screen from portrait to landscape by turning it) 

I was very impressed by all these apps and cant wait to see them in action! 

Turn your phone into a Wi-Fi Hotspot!

It had been a while since I blogged about anything but this deserved it as soon as I read it, I had to check it out and share it.. if you own a nokia phone running the symbian s60 Operating system and have 3G coverage here in the US or Europe you are going to love this... Joikuspot allows you to share your 3G connection over WLAN to any device. for more info and to dload joikuspot visit http://www.joikuspot.com/

Try it before you buy it [Cell phones]

buying a new cell phone is tricky, yeah there are sites with tons of info but it can be time consuming - you can visit the store but most likely they only have dummy phones that arent even functional, so playing with the user interface and OS is out of the question. It ususally takes me months of research before I change phones, I ask around alot, and usually try to convince my friend to buy it first...if thats too much for you and you just want to test it - check out tryphone.com, not only does it let you virtually play with the phone but also read reviews, specs, and even has demos on how tos - (I wish I would've had that when setting up SIP on my e61) they only have a few phones for now but expect to see a list grow.

web 2.0 bubble video - hilarious

UPDATE: seems someone didnt like the video and its now not on youtube but can be watched on metacafe - click play


Here Comes Another Bubble - Click here for more home videos

Upgraded my Nokia n800 to OS 2008

this past weekend I upgraded my n800 to run the new OS 2008 -(which runs on the new N810) it had been a while since I had done any but everything went fine and I'm now running os 2008 - while I think the n810 is a nice upgrade from its predecessor I did not see enough reasons to buy one especially when OS 2008 surfaced. Apart from the GPS and QWERTY keyboard that slides out it didnt seem like much of an upgrade on the hardware side - on the software side the UI is very sexy and while there are still some things I would like to see Im happy overall.
Why didnt I just get the n810? was the question I kept getting (since I like having the latest gadgets) GPS? with google maps "my location" I really dont need it -I may still get a bluetooth gps receiver for those times I want 100% accuracy but the more I use gmaps mobile the more Im happy (except for the "avoid highways" option it lacks)
QWERTY? Im a big texter-why I have a nokia E61i rather than an N95 so this was probably the only main reason why I woulve upgraded but at around $200 price difference it was not worth it - come to find out OS 2008 now launches the full QWERTY touchpad on the n800 when you press the square button - this was only launched before by tapping your finger on the screen which did not work for me all the time - this is my new way of typing now but I still use the stylus here and there.
you can find an N800 for as low as $228 at buy.com while the n810 is retailling around $500
so my recommendation is if you always wanted an n800 get it now that the price has dropped and/or if you already own one flash it to OS 2008 - follow the easy steps here
for further reading, more reviews, etc etc visit - http://www.internettablettalk.com/

New Google Maps version: My location is almost GPS good!

I use google maps for all my direction needs and even though I've almost come to buy a bluetooth GPS for more accuarte directions I havent - mainly because google maps does a great job - the only part thats a pain is inputting where you are if you dont know where you are? the new updated version tackles this with their "my location" feature..its not using GPS its using the information from near mobile towers to approximate your location..its not GPS of course but its pretty dammm close to it.. if you dont have google maps on your phone yet this is a good reason to get it.. I upgraded earlier today and as you can see it pin pointed my location pretty good and was able to zoom in. while I was writing this the app moved my location twice - it send the blue dot to "my location within 1800 meters" when before it was 1400 meters which was the more accurate location -I am guessing this happens when the phone switches towers..

see the video on how it works here and go here to download it

fly virgin america 2 for 1

I wrote about virgin america back in july and they are now flying out of the DC Area and with this deal I may just have to fly for no reason. this offer comes as the result of a partnership of diggnation (an internet video show in case you didnt know or watch) and virgin who sponsored this week's episode. visit www.virginamerica.com/diggnation for all the details - there are some black out dates but basically book your flight and your buddy flys for free...

Order your Pizza via Text Messaging

i havent had papa johns in a minute but after i saw these news I started craving it...why would you be calling papa johns to order your meat lovers pizza ? having to listen to their recorded greeting, waiting on the phone (killing minutes) and finally being answered by a high school kid with bad attitude.. you can skip all that and just text away.. Papa johns rolled out this SMS based ordering option this week to 2700 stores in the U.S..looks like dominos also has something similar allowing to place orders with web-enabled phones .. not via text messaging but over in the U.K they seem to be able to do it via text the dominos site had info on SMS ordering right now texting just seems alot easier so I give papa johns my thumbs up
for more info on papa johns sms ordering visit http://www.papajohns.com/sms/

more on the state of VoIP

On yesterdays post about not blogging where I mentioned my thoughts on the state of VoIP.. I talked about how the industry had become boring for me.. and today's post on techdirt further reinforces my feelings on this by going into the third stage of voip that never happened.. my thoughts especially on features that VoIP was supposed to bring that could not be done on traditional phone line systems..I know this from personal experience, my parents wish they had stayed with their old phone line.. vonage is just too unreliable..even people in the industry still have a POTS line.. sure they may have a secondary vonage line but keep their old system as a back up.. so yeah its a cheaper solution but just cheaper..no features that wow me.. (getting your voicemail on your email is so 2002) not only that but do i realy want to get a service from a provider and not be sure if they will be there next year.. I mean lets look at sunrocket, lawsuits with vonage, outages with skype....

another one bites the dust..google at it again

at the end of august rumors of a google phone were at its peak - it was the iphone all over again..
and I said it wasnt going to happen.. I guess I was right, like I said the gphone already exists . as these rumors are being straigthen out.. much like the Herald tribune's article I said that they would focus only on the OS part of it.. getting into manufacturing cell phones is just too dirty.. they do apps well..actually they do apps great but entering a more into the wireless space isnt going to be easy..however they've been acuqiring the right companies in this space and its going to be interesting to see how they bring it all together.. they recently acquired grandcentral.com (one number for life - you get a phone number and it rings up to 4 phones simultenously) then zingku.com (mobile social networking) and a few days ago I saw it got Jaiku.com (a presence, microbloging mobile app) which I loved but was restricted cause it only worked on nokia's s60 vs twitter that worked on any mobile.. so as you can see with jsut the last 3 examples theya definately lining something up..and these are just the ones I know... maybe I should read throught my 1000+ RSS feeds..

not enough time to blog vs nothing worth blogging

Ive been super busy, the days just dont seem to be long enough... as some of you know I am no longer at NexTone (the VoIP software company as some of you know it). I left for various reasons but one was that I was getting bored - Voice has become in the last year pretty boring to me.. for example 2 years ago Vonage /skype and other VoIP players were cool..people talked about it..I talked about it.. after many issues (like lack of features, compatibility issues, lack of good service, etc) and setbacks in the industry it just wasnt the same... if IP communications is going to become this utopia where IMS makes everything pretty and work seamlesly, a bunch of issues need to be worked out.. but that wasnt the reason for this post ..in addition I just havent seen anything great worth blogging about and I came accross this one post that I agree 100%.. especially points #3, 4, 6,10..
my RSS reader is at 1000+ do you really think I'm going to go through it? no! I have started deleting feeds due to the amount of posts they published intomobile, all things digital amongst others just put out too much in one day for anyone to keep up with...and alot of these other small bloggers were putting out stuff that was poor quality and just repetitive of bigger blogs.. ie I read a blog called ringnokia for a bit but the stuff was just recycled from other feeds.. its like everyone just tries to jump on the bandwagon talking about the iphone, the googlephone, etc etc so I end up seeing the same news more than i need to.. anyway so there you have it.. its not just because i have no time, theres been nothing worth blogging about that you probably have not already seen...Im off to NY for the weekend so maybe I'll come back with some cool stuff.

get your ooma

ooma is finaly open to the public..for those not familiar..
I consider them the vonage of 2007..or even better.. sunrocket of 2007..since its a all you can eat pre-paid service...basically you pay $400 upfront for this ooma hub thingy.. and thats it.. free US calls for life... (actually read the small print carefully - for at least three years) ask for clarification..
not a bad deal at all.. if you are into that sort of thing but a few things to consider..
- with cell phones becoming the main way we communicate do you still use your "home" line?
- will it follow the faith of sunrocket? well at least you'll keep that little futuristic looking ooma hub as memorabilia
- if your internet goes out..no ooma..(this is the same thing for all VoIP providers like vonage)
-if E911 is not avail in your area..you may want to keep a regular line
-they cant port your number currently-so say goodbye to your number

a cool idea maybe 5 years ago late when all you can eat VoIP woulve been nice competition to vonage and other players..but I myself would rather go with something like a skypein number and be able to use that on my computer, laptop, cell phone, or regular phone..

google phone rumors? the gphone already exists!

last year was all about the iphone..but now that the overpriced overhyped iphone is out all you see is news of hacking it..or complains.. so we must start new rumors or hype them up which is natural - we are only humans. I have seen an increase in rumors about the gphone all over the blogs and even news covering the increase of the subejct in blogs
in a recent email convo with friends where we were discussing the iphone, 700mhz spectrum bidding and google I made the following statement:
"there is no google phone..there wont be a google phone.. the google phone already exists.. look at your phone now..its pretty much a "google phone" .. it has gmail, google maps, gtalk,calendar, SMS search, YouTube and more and even google as your home page on your cell phone browser.. all on there.. and the best part is that they never had to get their hands dirty w\ manufacturing.. or providing the service ..they are pretty much embeded in billions of handsets..the "google phone" will be more apps for phones but thats it..they will partner up w\ carriers or manufacturers to embed their "google OS" ..but if in fact they do come up w\ an actual device most likely from a parntership i could see them offering a free phone-service offering which would be ad based on the 700mhz spectrum they are after"

as you can see the gphone is here..it has been here and its not going anywhere but into more devices.. even non-cellphone wireless devices.. I recently bought a nokia N800 internet tablet which runs on linux has Googletalk/Gmail alert, and google search as default apps out of the box ..so see all this talk about the gphone is not necessary when is right in your pocket already..
rumors say that it could be as soon as 2 weeks for the gphone to be avail....so we'll see in two weeks..I could be way off

Im back around..

its been a minute since I have posted anything.. been busy..been traveling.. but I guess with all the gadgets I have and connectivity it is a lame excuse... anywho lots going but Im back on..sit tight

Truphone upgrades and free calling for the year

Im a big truphone evangelist..they've set the path for mobile VoIP..and even though I wasnt using it that much before I am now..

- calls are FREE for the rest of the year (not only to other truphone users) but also to landlines (and some mobile numbers) at no cost in all 40 countries until the end of 2007!! here is the list of those countries

-more cool features like VoIP over 3G, presence and free SMS messages..the much improved wi-fi access feature is awesome..no more SIP profiles..I can now search for an access point and start using truphone in less than a minute read more here

-they also support gtalk as well and I hope soon they will also support the N800 internet tablet to compete right up against skype and gizmo (compete? i think not..more like own it)

New Entertainment System: Circuit City VS. Best Buy

I just purchased the last part to the new entertainment system I had been saving for and putting together for a few months now (checking reviews takes time) and to my surprise it was all bought at circuit city. I have been a best buy junkie for the longest, their stores are nice, customer service ok most of the time, nice selection and prices arent bad either, and a reward program that got me some $10 off coupons....However this time around circuit city got my $$ and its not just because their prices..let me start with the setup of the system I purchased and I'll go into the reasons why I bought it entirely at CC.



Entertainment components :
-Hitachi 55" LCD Projection HDTV (55VS69)
-Samsung Up-Conversion DVD Player (DVD-1080P7)
-Verizon FiOS TV (HD Set Top Box)
-Onkyo 5.1 Channel Home Theater System (HT-SR600)
-Z-line Designs 55" TV Stand (LUXOR55S)

Additional components: (already owned & wishlist)
- Slingbox Tuner to watch TV anywhere in the world using my laptop /mobile
along with airtunes which I will use as a wireless bridge to be able to watch tv from my Mac in my office (already owned)
-AppleTV sync movies from my itunes library on Mac in office to TV (wishlist)
-Apple Airtunes stream my itune's mp3 collection on Mac in office to receiver and enable slingbox to stream cable TV to my other computers(wishlist)

Website experience:
Bestbuy's initial visit was pleasant as it helped me narrow my search initally by the type of system ( 5.1 channel system, 2.1 channel system, digital sound projectors) but what about 7.1 channel systems? so even though this made it easier to narrow it down it left out one entire category out. Circuit city didnt have this to begin with but it gave you different categories to narrow it down (systems with or without dvd, price, brand) where best buy just listed all the systems starting with the most expensive of course (and giving you no option to sort by price) and then in no specific order either. Best Buy also lacked a "compare" feature. Circuit city went a step ahead and included customer ratings on each listing which gave me a good idea even before clicking for more info. It also provided customer reviews which best buy lacks too.. this was very helpful in choosing the dvd and surround sound, even though I still used google to find other reviews this was a good start. circuit city's detailed view also offered much more information it felt like than best buy and even simple things like "email a friend"

InStore experience:
this is a tough one since I never made it into a bestbuy store since most of my research was online, but their customer service is ok at best most of the time the staff at either store wont know much so I do all my research online before stepping in. I picked up the tv at the circuit city store and the person knew the basic stuff but since I knew what I wanted, it didnt leave much space for him to upsell me on another tv that I didnt need. I came in, pointed at it and bought it.

Product selection and Price:
I felt like bestbuy only had a few brands to choose from while circuit city had 12 and when narrowed down to audio system only gave me 4 brands in the type of system I was looking for where bestbuy had 11 different brands but all mixed in... Getting the best deal is also important to me so once I knew what I wanted I searched on that item for the best price. I used sites like pricegrabber.com and google's product search. This time around circuit city had the best deals around not only for the tv but also for dvd and surround sound.

Hooking it up!
i couldnt wait to get these hooked up but I needed cables and I highly recomend you never buy cables at the stores..the markups are crazy I used http://www.newegg.com/ for all my wiring needs
I bought 2 optical cables and 2 HDMI cables for about $30 delivered in 2 days where I probably would've spent that on one cable at the store..

I have pretty much everything setup, the only thing remaining is buying speaker stands and brackets for the back speakers..and picking up the airtunes.. and then Ill be ready to melt on the couch for a few days...

Meet my new friends

Say hello to my little friends.. the Nokia E61i and N800 Internet Tablet.. I have been using them for about a week or so now and enjoying it.. I was not trying to upgrade my e61 but missed the camera and being able to send pics.. so even thought its a minor upgrade im still happy i can now use it w\ shozu which uploads videos and pics straight to my YouTube and flickr accounts.. the n800 has been really nice.. I even paid skypeout so i use that when at home.. Im also using to read my rss feeds and listen to internet radio using Canola. I have yet to watch a movie on it though..thats about it.. Im not going to go into a depth review on these two since there are plenty online so just google it or drop me a note as you can see I'm too busy playing with these new gadgets to write more..

Verizon FiOS headache!

Im regretting switching over from comcast (even though they are just as bad) ...getting FiOS has been nothing but a huge headache.. see my previous posts about the whole experience HERE

To update you:
-when I signed up I was told that for the $42.99 premier pacakage I would get 3 set top boxes
my first bill came in and Im gettin charged $5 for each box!!
- My first bill showed up with packages I never ordered like a "movies and sports"
- to upgrade to an HD set top box I have to pay $25 for delivery charge or go to upper marlboro??!!
-everytime I call they either cant find my account by my phone number,or even Name! or transfer me to the wrong department, get put on hold forever, or just get dropped...
I have been on the phone for an hour either on hold or calling back..
I have been trying to make a payment my bill says $36.12 but w\ the credits..they told me it was $18.53, then I log online and it says $17.64 ..then the guy says how long have you had us? you shouldnt have a bill yet!!!!???? they have no sort of accounting information at all..
they keep asking me what my name is or phone number about 3 times
verizon fios = disapointment..

Flying Virgin..

I typicall keep these type of posts on my other nongeek blog but it deserves it..brand expansion of Virgin - Virgin America is looking really dammmm good to me.. I travel alot for pleasure and work so I have been on pretty much all airlines.. but when I read some of the awesome things VA has.. I was sold.. how does a standard 110v power outlet sound? ethernet for broadband? and usb outlets at every seat? maybe not that great for you non-geeks out there.. cause I would have everything plugged in like always.. while my girlfriend just sits back and chills.. anywho for those kind of flights I would feel like having a martini cause the mood lighting that changes throught the flight makes it look like a lounge out of NY.. even if you didnt bring entertainment with you there is plenty to do on the flight.. Satellite TV, Payperview, 3000 mp3s to listen to..but the coolest feature has to be the "seat to seat" chat client-An airborne social network!! so far they are only flying out of a few airports..SF, NY, LA ..DC was listed but I could not get a fly to Vegas yet (which Im going on Aug 9th and this woulve been booked here) but flights from LAX to JFK came to $ 280 which is not bad at all.. Service out of DC to SF or LA starts in sept 26th and oct 24th of this year! birthday Trip!

RIP: IM and email

I was thinking about downloading AIM.. but did I really miss it? I had been using trillian for a while but features wise there is nothing like the real application for yahoo, msn, gtalk, aim.. but I would be going back on what I have been saying for a while.."the days of IM and email are long gone " (at least for outside professional life) Instant messaging has been replaced by Text messaging (SMS and MMS) and email has been replaced by social networks (myspace / facebook) message capabilities....how and why did this happen?
-cell phone sales over the last 5 years has been huge.. (to exceed one billion in 2009) Im pretty sure almost everyone and their mother has a cell phone now. IM is restricted to a computer unless you have IM capabilities on your cell phone but even then you are limitted to the IM applicatiosn built in that phone and using the data to stay connected not only drains your battery faster but also increases your monthly bill since you need a data plan.. text messaging is on all the time- the only way to not receive a text message is to turn your mobile off (the capability to block and not receive text messages is not avail by any carrier) one thing that text messaging doesnt replicate is presence, unless you and all your friends have a fancy phone and use apps like Jaiku.. so just because you send someone a text message it doesnt mean they will get it right away (they could be out of service, or have their phone off)
-email is so 1990.. outside of having to use it professionaly.. people of all ages are looking at social networking sites (myspace, facebook, linkedin) to message friends/contacts. To me the hardest part is keeping up with people's contact info.. which I dont have to worry about when using a social site... 2nd I can see when they have read it, have logged in, etc.. so again its about presence. Thats my morning rant about the extinction of IM and email - Your thoughts?
do you see yourself answering to the same if not more text messages and myspace messages than IM's and email?

Sunrocket runs out of rocket fuel..

VoIP player sunrocket closed its doors today..they were one of vonage's main competitor and their offering did look good - $200 per year for all you can talk.. this sucks for sunrocket but is it good for vonage? verizon? cable providers? who will take some of these customers? more importantly where will customers want to go? I have talked to a few people in the VoIP industry and alot still have their regular POTS lines..I wonder why?? even my parents complain of vonage and my brother's comcast line sucks in their own ways..I will write some more thoughts when I get home.. must concentrate on driving for now..

social networks are ok but for how long?

social networks were a big topic at the online marketing summit I attended today in tysons corner.. towards the end I couldnt help but think how much longer is this going to last? or is it here to stay? what are they going to evolve into??
I started thinking back some years ago when it was friendster and discussion boards that started it all..you were cool if you had cool people as friends but (much like high school) this didnt last too long..due to a few too many issues everyone moved over to myspace.com, a site that was originally mainly for promoting music? became the cool thing and left friendster wishing they had fixed their problems....so now this guy "tom" became a rock star .. the ability to customize your page to reflect who you were (this was after all your space so why shouldnt you be able to decorate it much like your room?) is what made this new site so cool to get into.. at the same time there was another site but restricted to college kids only brewing like cheap beer..this made facebook even more desired by everyone that was NOT in college.. next thing you know it opens up for everyone to join and their platform as well to developers.. this meant more apps and widgets to keep college kids away from bars..and and now there are talks about an IPO, $6 billion offers from MSN, declined $2 billion offer from yahoo..but even with the buzz this "platform" created it apparently decreased facebook's fame.. its reported that myspace still has better traffic.. what happened? too much going on..the site was simple and it was only for college kids....now there is too much and its turning people back to basics.. so where is it going? I see all social networking going mobile.. apps like twitter are the next wave of social networking because of how basic and easy it is..keeping in touch w\ your friends.. you dont need no pics, or html knowledge, all you need is your text messaging..

my last iphone posting!!

I dont know about you all but I've had enough about the damm iphone.. yeah I like it but I wont go back on my word and get it like many that have...two bloggers I follow Jeff & Om grabbed it and they seem happy even though at first they were totally not fans.... but going back to my intial though.. enough is enough.. is there anything else to talk about?the last year has been nothing but iphone rumors..then a week+ ago the hype got huge with the phones..damm loosers waiting in line?! etc, etc..then it was all the "first hand" reviews, complaints or praising the phone postings.....now its all the applications and the hacks surfacing.. even a guy from JP morgan talking about the iphone nano!!! ok dude you are supposed to be a respected analyst.. even your own pals are putting you down..he went and retracted..damm right he better.. but he got his 2 minutes of fame..bad fame but still..
this is what I told my friends on an email exchange
"I've had enough of the iphone.. seriously its like the bad ex gf that
wont leave you alone.. w\ all her crap people still tell you..awww she
was nice.. how come it didn't work out?? She couldn't send SMS's to more
than one person! ...The iphone set a new standard for what converged phones/smartphones
should be..and what the user interface should be on all phones, however
things like no 3G, no mass SMS / MMS capabilities, video uploading
..this could go on and on.. need to be fixed! ...stay put for 2nd or 3rd generation"

anywho..this is it...Im saying bye bye iphone until you come out with the proper features..my hats off to apple steve..nobody in the history of geeks has been able to do what he has..bring sexiness to something so simple and basic like a cell phone...and while doing it he has brought apple stock up and up to $134 per share over the last 5 years

Get your friends some loving..

this reminds me of hotornot.com but alot more to the point.. getthemlaid.com is a beta site that basically lets you create a profile for your friend who you think needs to get some action.....thats as much work as you need to do.. let nature take its course and hopefully your friend would soon be found by someone..although its a funny idea and site..there are some privacy issues that concern me since pretty much anyone with a picture of you can create a profile for you, but nonetheless your friend may just end up thanking you.