Meeting Monster – the Boom Box That Fits in Your Hand

Posted: 18th May 2012 by Tcat Houser in Gadgets, Videos
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If my memory serves correct I recently mentioned to you my looking at Bluetooth enabled microsized boom boxes. Certainly my amazement stems from the advance in technology itself. In the early 1970s I lovingly labored over the construction of a pair of over-the-top copies of custom-built Klipch folded corner horn speakers. We will ignore the fact they were damn near 2 m tall and more than half as wide. Listening to Jethro Tull’s Aqualung could rattle the house, complete with the concrete pad it sat on.

40 years later, I am listening to the same recording. How I am doing so is completely different. I am using Monsters iCLARITY HD Bluetooth enabled A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) Precision Micro Bluetooth Speaker as it streams recording to me as I create this article.

The rechargeable battery gets its juice from a USB port. I can leave it plugged in and it charges as I type and listen. But wait, it gets better. It has a more than decent microphone built-in. This means I have Hands-Free Audio (HFP) and Headset Profiles (HSP) making for hands-free calling capability, within the Bluetooth range of 10 m (33 feet).

The pair of 35mm full range drivers deliver stunning clarity. The top of the case is actually a passive radiator subwoofer. I experimented with the space capability in a not recommended fashion. I put on an old MP 4 cut of the movie: The Dirty Dozen. It is not recommended because of possible lip sink issues between the audio and video while on Bluetooth.

Not only did I not notice an audio delay to the lips. I actually found it a little unnerving about the amount of bass coming out of something that can fit in the palm of my hand during the ‘Explosion Man’ parts of the movie. (It is a war movie).

Equally as stunning was the accuracy of the sound of the different rifle reports. Anyone who knows from firsthand experience the difference between an AK-47 and an M-14 knows exactly what I mean.

My experience was interrupted with a Skype call. Touching the phone button muted down the audio from the movie and gave me a wonderful Skype experience without having to wear a headset. Hanging up brought me back to the action in a pleasant fade up.

The funny thing is, this is not why I made the purchase. I am going back to instructor led training to cover DOD directive 8570.1M (IT training). I have always used a PA system for a number of reasons. The 3.5 mm jack will let me plug in my wireless microphone as audio reinforcement in smaller classroom situations. No Klipch speakers following me in a cargo caravan needed.

The mini Monster Bluetooth boombox is everything its competitors in this class are, and less. Less size, lower price, less weight while out producing in volume. Frankly, I have never been a fan of Monster products because I put a lot of stock in the price/performance ratio. And it is for this reason I went with their iCLARITY HD mini boombox.

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Apple Feels the Pressure From Below

Posted: 14th May 2012 by Tcat Houser in Gadgets, Notebooks, netbooks, tablets
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Rumors about what the most cash flush corporation in the world is up to certainly makes for a great deal of cannon fodder. And it does not take a rocket scientist to realize not everyone can afford a gadget that purchase andexperience requiring the cash outlay approaching a kilobuck (USD).

The blogosphere here has gone nuts with rumors that a 7 inch (or so) many iPad are in place to take on the e-book reader market segment, or at least close to it with a USD200-USD250 7 inch iPad featuring a (mere) 8 GB of storage.

Certainly because of its rumored Retina display, sporting a whopping 2048 x 1536 pixels for such a small screen would mean the human eye would not be able to determine the individual pixels that create the screen.

Admittedly the storage requirements for supporting that many pixels would be challenged to carry around a great deal of storage. After all we’re looking at 326 pixels per inch. That would mean probably no more than two HD movies maxing out the rumored 8 GB of storage.

And these limitations strike me as a big So What? Is not a point of cloud storage to have your data somewhere other than the device you are carrying? How many hours of content you need to carry why you are off-line? Am I mistaken or have the airline carriers been begging me to spend anywhere between 10 and USD30 to buy Wi-Fi access from them on their Wi-Fi equipped planes?

And unless I am on LSD, they are proudly telling me the bird I am walking onto as I am leaving the jet way to board the ever more expensive flying soup can is emblazoned with a decal telling me it is Wi-Fi equipped. It’s in the air flight magazine and no doubt my safety attendents (cabin personnel) are reminding me under appearent penalty of termination (or perhaps being retrained by being escorted to the smoking sections located on either wing outside the cabin) that I can now conveniently use their Wi-Fi hotspot while being propelled at 1000 km/h.

Personally, I believe the rumors. Not because they come from multiple reliable sources. I believe it because Apple has left a hole in the lower end of the market. I do not necessarily mean price. Call me a klutz. I have not mastered how to hold a 10 inch tablet with one hand while navigating with the other. This is not an issue that can be solved at USD200 or USD2000.

A 7.85 inch iPad with the Retina display at a price point that is within the striking range of the Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight would make it at least to the short list as a serious competitor. I’m probably willing to give up the SD card slot and battery life of the Barnes & Noble Nook. At least until I see what the Microsoft/Barnes and Noble marriage brings.

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EBay’s Hidden Evils

Posted: 11th May 2012 by Tcat Houser in Internet
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Certainly there is no question that both eBay and PayPal ‘changed the game’ And helped drive Internet growth. I know I was an early adopter of both platforms over 12 years ago. Not long after PayPal went public, eBay purchase them for one and a half billion dollars in the summer of 2002.

10 years later, my fondness for the two companies has waned considerably.

About five years ago I placed an order worth about 50 bucks for a high-end miso soup mix on a website. The small site did not have a real clear clue about securing credit card information.

The Black hats got into that site and with its my PayPal MasterCard number. While I was monitoring my PayPal account closely, I quickly discovered the pending charge for an Air France ticket totaling just under USD1000.

I notified PayPal by phone. They said to fill out and sign this affidavit. This was somewhat difficult as I was not in the United States. It’s not printing out and signing that was difficult. Getting this paperwork to Oklahoma City by International DHL courier was quite expensive.

It turns out I was misinformed. Filing an affidavit while a capture is pending is a complete waste of time. The transaction has to actually go through. When I heard this I thought: “what? I see 4 men going into a bank with ski masks and shotguns and I have to wait to have them actually rob the bank before alerting the police?

So Paypal acknowledges the many attempts before one takes.

And they got a successful ‘capture’. That turned into a sale.

*Now* I can file (again) and pay DHL (again) for an International Overnight.

I’m pretty hot to trot to do this since my checking account got hit for the backup funding of the rip-off. Yes, I got my money back (less several hundred bucks in Overnight fees) in about a month.

So I got rid of the attachment to Paypal so this doesn’t happen again. And I limit my PayPal to less than 1 kilobuck.

So I go and list my new book, CompTIA Network+ 2012 By The Numbers on eBay to search for active readers and editors while in the later stages of development. I get a couple.

I owe eBay $3.50 for their services. (Remember they own PayPal).

Paypal won’t pay eBay the $3.50 unless I have my account attached to my bank or a credit card, “for my protection.” What protection?

With my past experiences, I need that sort of protection as much as I need a mugger protecting me as I walk down Fifth Ave in NYC.

I’ll be damned if I letting this happen again. I guess I will have to let eBay close my over 12 year old account because they won’t take money held in it’s own company.

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Wireless Phone Subsidies – An Endangered Species

Posted: 9th May 2012 by Tcat Houser in Mobiles and Smartphones
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The stock markets on both sides of the pond have been raking wireless carriers over the coals over the high cost of subsidizing new wireless equipment for consumers. And it is coming to an end.

Europe seems to be leading the way, and United States is not far behind. This CEO of Apple Tim Cook has attempted to say this will not affect Apple Incorporated. Others are not so sure. Among all the mobile manufacturers (Samsung, Nokia, HTC and others) Apple gets the highest prices. While it is certainly true that the circuit board in an iPhone or an iPad carries the highest cost per square millimeter than virtually every other nonmilitary piece of gear out there.

It is equally true that the carriers have to pay the most to Apple. The pressure on the wireless carriers to end this subsidy is enormous, especially with the move to smart phones. In some countries such as France, the move is already a fate accomplished for the consumer. With prices of new equipment going north of USD500 the consumer has one of two choices.

One either pays an additional fee, typically about USD50 a month more for the new gear or do a quick free credit check to see if they can finance the new hardware themselves for less than what the carrier is charging.

Now that summer is almost upon us, it will prove interesting to see how many tablets come out with Windows 8 and 4G/LTE offerings. The rumor is the count is in the dozens. With prices ranging from USD300 to north of a kilobuck.

No matter how you look at it, the days of getting a free phone are days you will be seeing only in the history books.

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WiNook

Posted: 7th May 2012 by Tcat Houser in Gadgets, Technology news
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In a stunning development patent adversaries Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have become strange bedfellows indeed. For a relatively paltry 300 million USD the Redmond Washington giant Microsoft Corp. revealed its hand in the global poker match with its King County rival based in Seattle, Amazon.com along with its Silicon Valley co-optation partner Apple Corp.

No details were revealed about the sometimes contentious lawsuit regarding patents between the two companies was discussed.

What is known is on Monday morning 30 April a press conference revealed that in exchange for the 300 million bucks Microsoft gets approximately a 17% ownership in a new spinoff company supporting the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader.

This is a huge win for both companies. Microsoft coming out with a new version of its venerable operating system Windows for the first time running on an ARM platform is going to be a real kick in the teeth to the Kindle, and it does not take a rocket scientist to envision a Wi-Fi enabled Nook with the rather kick ass Internet Explorer (Version 10) to take a bite out of a Silicon Valley fruit company with its iPad.

It is commonly accepted that the Nook is better construction then the Kindle. The price points are a bit in favor towards Barns And Noble, and with more features. Personally, I’m enthralled with the Nook GlowLight concept. A superior experience in sunlight, while a tailored brightness while reading in the dark @ less than 200 grams. All that is missing is that browser and I would not even give an iPad a second thought.

Here’s the deal.

I *want* a SD card slot and an USB port, full-stop. So take that Amazon. I been a loving customer of yours since the mid-1990′s. I don’t own a Kindle since you won’t give me those two ports.

So it is shaping up to a horse race of Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.

What is perfectly clear is that the outcome of the horse race is we all win with better choices and lower prices.

 

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