11 posts tagged “technology”
My newest gadget was delivered on Friday and I'm having a ball playing around with it; it's my new Garmin Nuvi 260.
In the midst of a writers' strike when nothing good is on broadcast TV (of course it's arguable if there is anything good on TV these days), I'm right now sitting in front of my HDTV enjoying one of my favourite video podcasts in quality better than regular broadcast TV... for FREE. All thanks to my new Apple TV.
Of course I did have to pay for the Apple TV but now I can get all types of content for my TV for free or, when the new Apple TV software is actually released, I can even rent HD quality movies directly from my TV... brilliant. And if I still cannot find enough good programming, I can always make my own. We are already enjoying watching our family photos being displayed via our Apple TV.
Here's a quick list of video podcasts I'm currently addicted to:
- commandN
- Hidden Universe HD
- Systm
- Tekzilla
- Web Drifter
- and pretty much anything from Pixel Corps (because the quality of there stuff is awesome).
Following Steve's keynote address at MacWorld on Tuesday, we hit the online Apple Store and made some good Apple hardware purchases. Most of the items we had already planned on getting but we knew if we had purchased before Xmas all of the announcements at MacWorld would have been about the upgraded hardware we just bought for more money...
MacBook (Black) - While there were no MacBook "Regular" announcements, I am extremely excited to get my very own MacBook (my wife has had a MacBook for probably six months now). I cannot completely divorce myself from the PC, due to work and school, but I cannot wait to use an operating system that just works.
Apple TV, Take 2 - Wow! While the hardware of this device has not changed, the software update and the ability to now rent movies via the Apple TV is awesome. I'm really jazzed about renting my first HD movie. We purchased the 160GB box so we can sync lots of media to the device.
Time Capsule - This is the item that we had not expected to purchase before the Keynote... mostly because it didn't exist yet. The Time Capsule is basically a networked hard drive plus an AirPort Extreme. We had planned to grab an AirPort Extreme so the addition of a 500MB hard drive to the package was a great plus. The bad side is that it doesn't ship until the end of Feb.
We also picked up a essentially free Canon PIXMA MX300 Office All-In-One Printer to replace our existing HP printer. We've been experiencing problems with printing from my wife's MacBook to the HP and we've heard/read all types of problems with HP on Apple networks so we decided to move to a new printer.
My biggest problem this coming week will be trying to get my last assignments and take-home final completed while trying not to play with my new Apple stuff.
I just found this a very interesting piece of news... I can just imagine the folks building their own FM transmitters to goof around with their neighbours thermostats.
If you've seen the latest Die Hard movie, you can only imagine more sinister uses.
What's the best gift you received this year?
Despite not being a nice boy all year long, My wife Santa gave me an Advanced Design System's 8" Digital Photo Frame (same as embeded photo, although the displayed photo is not my family).
Santa did an excellent job finding a decent sized frame with good resolution (800X600) and this little baby also plays music and videos (includes stereo speakers). I've already got it prepped with lots of family photos for display on my cubicle desk at work.
This new TimePoint product/service provided by ChampionChip is very cool. It's simply a permanent set-up of the popular ChampionChip RFID tagging system used for various races (running, biking, rollerblading, skiing, etc.). I think this is a fantastic idea and fitness facilities would be crazy to not start equiping their tracks or trails with this technology IMHO.
The video on the site is pretty cheesy but gives you a little bit of an idea how this set-up can be used.
Now I can watch Rick Mercer on YouTube. This is awesome! We just need to see if we can get the Red Green Show on YouTube now.
It's nice to see that at least one technology company hasn't forgotten about Canada.
More bad news for Canadians that want to get their hands on an iPhone. Not only is there not yet a deal with Rogers but now Comwave is in some type of "iPhone" trademark dispute :-(
All that being said, I cannot imagine that owning an iPhone in Canada will be affordable. To the best of my knowledge, Rogers Wireless still does not offer an unlimited monthly data package so using the data functionality of the iPhone will certainly cost a pretty penny.
Show us a gadget that's on your wish list.
I was able to play with one last week at the Apple Store in Orlando... extremely cool.
I'm not really a cell phone guy (my cell phone is rarely turned on) but the data capabilities of this device are really appealing. I can safely say that, while I love the device, I won't purchase any type of smart phone until the cellular data plans and data networks improve (particularly in Canada). I thought the iPod Touch would be more my 'can of beens' but without the calendar features or to-do list functionality it isn't worth it.
