REVIEW: Garmin Nuvi 360 Portable GPS Receiver
24 August 2006 02:20 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
One of the most indispensable consumer electronic devices in my arsenal is a GPS receiver. Since I got turned onto the wonders of GPS about a year ago, I have come to rely on it so much that it's hard to get around without it.
Granted, if you've been living in the same place your whole life and mostly travel back and forth to the same job each day, you probably don't need a GPS. But if you've moved to a new location, travel for work or just happen to be bad with directions, then a GPS is for you.
Read more for the complete 2100-word review including 18 pictures...
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First Working $100 Laptop
25 May 2006 12:53 EST
PowerPage Contributor
Following many prototype mock-ups, here is the first working model of the One Laptop Per Child project, unveiled at the Seven Countries Task Force Meeting yesterday in all its 'Fisher Price, My First Laptop Computer' glory, along with a number of 'nearly finished' prototypes.
Nicholas Negroponte (co-founder of MIT Media Lab, writer of Being Digital) heads up the OLPC organisation whose vision is to provide every child in developing countries with a laptop computer.
The proposed $100 machine will be a Linux-based, with a dual-mode display - both a full-color, transmissive DVD mode, and a second display option that is black and white reflective and sunlight-readable at 3x the resolution. The laptop will have a 500MHz processor and 128MB of DRAM, with 500MB of Flash memory; it will not have a hard disk, but it will have four USB ports (that's what the cute 'ears' cover when in the 'down' position.
Contributed By: Brett Jordan
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REVIEW: Garmin StreetPilot 2720 Portable GPS (Updated)
06 January 2006 11:26 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
As an unabashed gadget geek, there's one toy that I've managed to resist for years: GPS. You see, I have this weird thing about commuting - I don't like it. No, let me make that clearer, I detest it. Sitting in traffic or spending a lot of time driving across creation is one of my least favorite things to do. So much so that I'd rather move closer to the office than commute.
Because of my short commutes (usually between 10 and 20 minutes) I've never really had the need for a GPS system. I know where I'm going because I drive the same route every day. But reading Rob Parker's review of the Quest 2 from Garmin on 14 November got me thinking that maybe there's something to this whole GPS thing after all.
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Xbox 360 Launch Hype
22 November 2005 10:28 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
I drove around a little this morning and checked out the xbox 360 launch hype. BJ’s gave out 5 standard units - I congratulated a few leaving with their boxes - probably could have snagged one If I’d been there 30 minutes earlier. Best Buy was more hardcore. The point man had been there since 9PM the night before and watched the 50 some leaders get on the board.
Those waiting organized their own list and kept careful records of who got in line and when. The store didn’t open until 9AM, but at 6AM a Best Buy rep came by and handed out about 50-60 vouchers. Apparently there were about 20 premium and 30 standard units to be had. Some people fell asleep in their cars and missed out. It was cold and windy all night with a light misty rain that chills to the bone! (Contributed by z0inks)
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Why Your Next iMac may be an Xbox
17 October 2005 10:13 EST
R. Emory Lundberg, Assoc. Editor
Apple's first steps into home media management don't have to be yours too. There are a variety of methods out there to watch your videos, view your photos, and listen to your music.
Front Row. Center Stage. Elgato's EyeHome. All are mac-centric ways to get media into your living room.
My leap into home theater integration with my iLife has led me to an unlikely place - the Microsoft XBox. Before you get too squeamish, keep in mind that Microsoft loses money on hardware sales, and if you're buying an Xbox for a project like I'm recommending, and you aren't especially interested in playing games, building an XBox Media Center is a great way to stick it to the man.
Apple's Front Row isn't a bad first try. The downsides are that it doesn't support many formats for content you come into contact with every day, and you can't buy it without getting an iMac included. While the iMac is a swell computer, and a lot of people are going to love Front Row, if you weren't in the market for a new iMac, you're probably not going to think of getting one just because it has Front Row.
Good for you.
Click the headline for the rest of Emory's story...
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Review: Comcast DVR - Skip it (Updated 3x)
26 April 2005 09:28 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
The Comcast DVR (a Motorola DCT 6412) has more bugs in it than a picnic basket left out on a summer day. And I left TiVo for this?!
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Review: Comcast DVR - Skip it (Updated 3x)
26 April 2005 09:28 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
The Comcast DVR (a Motorola DCT 6412) has more bugs in it than a picnic basket left out on a summer day. And I left TiVo for this?!
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My Motorola DCT6412 DVR Mea Culpa (Updated)
26 April 2005 09:28 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
Back in April I was highly critical of Motorola's new DCT6412 DVR (being distributed by Comcast in my area). I had a lot of problems with my first and second DCT6412 units (freezing, audio dropouts and missed recordings) but after swapping the second out for the third I couldn't be happier.
Some background is in order here. I used to be a die-hard TiVO loyalist until my trusty 35-inch Mitsubishi cabinet television blew a picture tube. Like most families that enjoy TV this was both a curse and a blessing. It was a curse because TVs are expensive, a blessing because we got to have the "HDTV discussion." Since it was December and the Eagles were on their way to the Super Bowl, it wasn't much of a discussion, really - we were going HDTV. Ok, so it was again a curse because HDTV brings up a whole other debate - tube, DLP, or plasma. We decided on a Sammy DLP (a Samsung HLP4674W) but that's a discussion for another time.
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Elgato EyeHome Media Centre
25 April 2005 10:28 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
John from OziMac has posted a review of the Elgato EyeHome Media Centre:
As I've now come to expect from Elgato, the out of box experience was great. The product has the same industrial design as the EyeTV, which is great. I was a little disappointed that Elgato chose not to include the standard Yellow, White and Red cables to hook the unit up to my TV, but I guess it's excusable given they also offer other connections like SCART and Optical Audio. They do give you an ethernet cable and the power adapter obviously! There is also a similar remote to the EyeTV comes with.Read the full review at Ozimac.com.au.
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Elgato EyeHome Media Centre
25 April 2005 10:28 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
John from OziMac has posted a review of the Elgato EyeHome Media Centre:
As I've now come to expect from Elgato, the out of box experience was great. The product has the same industrial design as the EyeTV, which is great. I was a little disappointed that Elgato chose not to include the standard Yellow, White and Red cables to hook the unit up to my TV, but I guess it's excusable given they also offer other connections like SCART and Optical Audio. They do give you an ethernet cable and the power adapter obviously! There is also a similar remote to the EyeTV comes with.Read the full review at Ozimac.com.au.
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Elgato EyeHome Media Centre
25 April 2005 10:28 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
John from OziMac has posted a review of the Elgato EyeHome Media Centre:
As I've now come to expect from Elgato, the out of box experience was great. The product has the same industrial design as the EyeTV, which is great. I was a little disappointed that Elgato chose not to include the standard Yellow, White and Red cables to hook the unit up to my TV, but I guess it's excusable given they also offer other connections like SCART and Optical Audio. They do give you an ethernet cable and the power adapter obviously! There is also a similar remote to the EyeTV comes with.Read the full review at Ozimac.com.au.
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White Wires
14 February 2005 02:01 EST
Apple is not the only source of white wires that identify the PodPeople roaming the streets. Several manufactures offer iPod specific earphones in white, and I will be looking at three that are of the in-ear variety. Opus phones are bargain priced and the perfect compliment to the iPod shuffle. They are white, inexpensive and do not benefit from equalization while the shuffle is white, inexpensive and does not offer equalization. Perfect match! Sony has long made white earphones that have been a favorite among iPodders but they NEED equalization to be enjoyed and therefore are not so good for the shuffle. They are comfortable, beautifully designed and sound fine if your iPod is set to Treble Boost. Etymotic Research pioneered this genre of earphones and have now come out with the ER 6i model which are tailor made for the iPod. They are more efficient than the plain ER 6 and are white. They sound stunning right out of the box and they can go a touch louder and have more bass emphasis than their black counterpart at Etymotic Research.
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White Wires
14 February 2005 02:01 EST
Apple is not the only source of white wires that identify the PodPeople roaming the streets. Several manufactures offer iPod specific earphones in white, and I will be looking at three that are of the in-ear variety. Opus phones are bargain priced and the perfect compliment to the iPod shuffle. They are white, inexpensive and do not benefit from equalization while the shuffle is white, inexpensive and does not offer equalization. Perfect match! Sony has long made white earphones that have been a favorite among iPodders but they NEED equalization to be enjoyed and therefore are not so good for the shuffle. They are comfortable, beautifully designed and sound fine if your iPod is set to Treble Boost. Etymotic Research pioneered this genre of earphones and have now come out with the ER 6i model which are tailor made for the iPod. They are more efficient than the plain ER 6 and are white. They sound stunning right out of the box and they can go a touch louder and have more bass emphasis than their black counterpart at Etymotic Research.
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Pod My Ride
05 February 2005 08:15 EST
OK, the simple solution is to buy a BMW with the iPod option. Other auto manufacturers have announced iPod compatibility too and for Apple this has been like adding hotels to Park Place and the Board Walk. Now for those of us who are not in the market for a new car just yet, I have some suggestions: read on.........
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Motorola's Serious Looking DVR Rolling out to Comcast
07 January 2005 05:15 EST
In a previous story we mentioned that you can capture digital programming from the FireWire port on the back of new cable box (Motorola 6400) being used by Comcast. If you're wondering about how Comcast's new Hi-Def DVR compares to say TiVo, check out this article on PVRBlog.com:
I've been reading reviews and reports of Motorola's dual tuner, HDTV 6412 DVR, and word on the street is that it's finally reaching a lot of major Comcast markets. While almost all reviews of cable company DVRs have been mostly poor, due to bad software, bad hardware, or an overall low quality experience, this one looks like a serious TiVo fighter, since it packs a lot of features you just can't get in a TiVo.I have been using the 6412 DVR for a little over a week and have to admit to being totally enamoured with the ability to record HDTV. I also love that is has dual tuners which means that you can watch one and record another or even record two shows at once. There's even a hack to enable the 30-second skip button. Sure, the guide blows and there's no thumbs up or wish lists but that will come as Comcast rolls out the Microsoft TV Foundation 1.7 software to more and more customers.
So, where are you on the whoie DVR thing?
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Motorola's Serious Looking DVR Rolling out to Comcast
07 January 2005 05:15 EST
In a previous story we mentioned that you can capture digital programming from the FireWire port on the back of new cable box (Motorola 6400) being used by Comcast. If you're wondering about how Comcast's new Hi-Def DVR compares to say TiVo, check out this article on PVRBlog.com:
I've been reading reviews and reports of Motorola's dual tuner, HDTV 6412 DVR, and word on the street is that it's finally reaching a lot of major Comcast markets. While almost all reviews of cable company DVRs have been mostly poor, due to bad software, bad hardware, or an overall low quality experience, this one looks like a serious TiVo fighter, since it packs a lot of features you just can't get in a TiVo.I have been using the 6412 DVR for a little over a week and have to admit to being totally enamoured with the ability to record HDTV. I also love that is has dual tuners which means that you can watch one and record another or even record two shows at once. There's even a hack to enable the 30-second skip button. Sure, the guide blows and there's no thumbs up or wish lists but that will come as Comcast rolls out the Microsoft TV Foundation 1.7 software to more and more customers.
So, where are you on the whoie DVR thing?
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Home Phone Systems & Bluetooth
13 December 2003 10:47 EST
Why do we have to look up phone numbers at home? I use a Sony Ericsson T68i. I use the Bluetooth capability to sync with my Apple Desktop computer for contacts calendar etc. I think its fantastic. I also have a Siemens phone system for my home which is a two line 4 mailbox system with four remote / wireless phones that also is the intercom system in my home. It is a small business system.
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Home Phone Systems & Bluetooth
13 December 2003 10:47 EST
Why do we have to look up phone numbers at home? I use a Sony Ericsson T68i. I use the Bluetooth capability to sync with my Apple Desktop computer for contacts calendar etc. I think its fantastic. I also have a Siemens phone system for my home which is a two line 4 mailbox system with four remote / wireless phones that also is the intercom system in my home. It is a small business system.
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The iCar
18 November 2003 07:36 EST
Gizmodo found another do it yourself dashboard Mac, this one with the screen mounted on what looks like PVC piping and the rest of the iBook hidden away in the glove compartment.
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The iCar
18 November 2003 07:36 EST
Gizmodo found another do it yourself dashboard Mac, this one with the screen mounted on what looks like PVC piping and the rest of the iBook hidden away in the glove compartment.
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Sony to Test DRM on CDs
11 November 2003 11:42 EST
Sony is planning to release its first CD with a new form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) on the CD according to The Register. Naturally Seven's album, What is it? goes on sale on Monday in Germany with the new form of DRM and it's not compatible with the iPod:
Sony's latest system is not without restrictions, however. The tracks can only be copied to Sony portable music players, and played on a PC using Sony's own software - a problem for users of platforms not supported by Sony. The company promises to offer plug-ins for popular music apps early next year.Bummer that Sony makes it incompatible with the iPod. Can a boycott of such CDs be far off?
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Sony to Test DRM on CDs
11 November 2003 11:42 EST
Sony is planning to release its first CD with a new form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) on the CD according to The Register. Naturally Seven's album, What is it? goes on sale on Monday in Germany with the new form of DRM and it's not compatible with the iPod:
Sony's latest system is not without restrictions, however. The tracks can only be copied to Sony portable music players, and played on a PC using Sony's own software - a problem for users of platforms not supported by Sony. The company promises to offer plug-ins for popular music apps early next year.Bummer that Sony makes it incompatible with the iPod. Can a boycott of such CDs be far off?
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Yet Another Sony Portable TV
11 November 2003 11:05 EST
The new Sony MSV-A1 portable TV from is minimal compared to the VAIO's HDD based video viewer, but includes a tuner for watching (and recording) live TV. Some links:
Specifications:
- Display: 2.5"
- Drive/interface: Memory Stick DUO
- Format: MPEG4 (130 minute @ 128MB)
- Viewing time: 1 hour
- Weight: 120 grams (0.3 lb)
- Size: 61 x 23 x 95 mm (2.4"W x 0.9"H x 3.7"D) folded
- Price: about US$400
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Yet Another Sony Portable TV
11 November 2003 11:05 EST
The new Sony MSV-A1 portable TV from is minimal compared to the VAIO's HDD based video viewer, but includes a tuner for watching (and recording) live TV. Some links:
Specifications:
- Display: 2.5"
- Drive/interface: Memory Stick DUO
- Format: MPEG4 (130 minute @ 128MB)
- Viewing time: 1 hour
- Weight: 120 grams (0.3 lb)
- Size: 61 x 23 x 95 mm (2.4"W x 0.9"H x 3.7"D) folded
- Price: about US$400
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Sony's Portable HDD Video Player (Updated)
10 November 2003 12:58 EST
Sony is showing an iPod like device: MPEG-2 video player with 20GB HDD but currently works only with Windows. It looks like this could be the new Walkman of the Future that we mentioned last Thursday.
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Sony's Portable HDD Video Player (Updated)
10 November 2003 12:58 EST
Sony is showing an iPod like device: MPEG-2 video player with 20GB HDD but currently works only with Windows. It looks like this could be the new Walkman of the Future that we mentioned last Thursday.
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