This was meant to be a feedback blog in which I happily told how successful I was browsing the internet with the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet hooked up to the Nokia E51 smartphone. Fortunately though I was willing to bet on my success I didn’t put any money down. So I guess you could say it “didn’t work as expected”.

I found a blog “Internet Tablet School” which had a tutorial on connecting the Nokia N800 to the internet using a Bluetooth phone. The cellphone must support the the DUN (Dial-Up Networking) Bluetooth profile. They even have an embedded YouTube video showing how it is done, and they manage to succeed! It turns out that you need to switch the cellphone Bluetooth on and then run a search for Bluetooth devices from the Nokia Tablet.

Connecting the N800 to the cellphone went well, so did telling the N800 to use the phone to connect to the internet. When it came to actually opening up a webpage in the browser on the N800, it timed out after a few minutes. After fiddling around with the settings a while, realized that the problem was most likely caused by the way my Nokia E51 was configured to connect to the data network. To fix this would involve deleting a whole lot of settings on the phone and starting again from scratch, something I may try at a later date. Alternatively I could wait for the Nokia N810 with WiMax and for Sprint to roll out WiMax in my area.

Listen to the voice. Not the voice(s) in your head, but the commanding, navigating voice.

I didn’t listen to the voice at first, “Turn left in 200 yards and then bear right“. I knew the way home from work, and wanted to drive my normal route. Eventually the voice was giving the directions I was driving.

It was a totally different matter when we went away for a long weekend to Cape Cod. Then I had no choice but to listen the computerized voice of the GPS, especially after getting lost following a map and some printed directions.

No GPS device is perfect, and it takes a bit of time to get used to the workings and limitations of a device, even one as highly rated as the HP iPaq rx5915 Travel Companion. The HP iPaq rx5915 does not have a text to speech option, which means it does not announce street names. As long as you are paying attention to the screen, you can see the name of the street anyway.

There were a few times when I could have done with a “Where am I?” option to tell me where I was, and not just where I was going.
The Tomtom GO 720 GPS actually has this feature, along with voice-guided turn-by-turn directions and a map-sharing function for the most up-to-date maps.
It doesn’t function as a handheld computer or have Wi-Fi though…

Are you a binary horse — somebody who can look at binary and convert it in your head rather than going to some website that will calculate it for you? If you are, then you need a binary clock, which will keep the connections in your brain snapping whenever you need to know the time.

Each column on the clock represents a different part of the time, with blue LEDs turned on or off to represent a given number. In the picture I’ve provided here, the left-most column represents 1. The next column represents 0. The third column is 4. The fourth column is 8. The fifth column is 3. And the right-most column is 6. Put those numbers together, and you get 10:48:36.

How long did it take you to figure that out? Took me about 10 minutes — using an online binary converter. I’ll never be able to use a clock like this, because it’ll guarantee my late arrival to any appointment in my calendar.

According to the description, you can run it in 12-hour (and look out the window to know which half of the day you’re in) or 24-hour mode.

In idle moments between jobs, I grab a magazine and read an article. Perhaps this little product would be a nice change of pace. Hmm. Or perhaps I could take up Spider Solitaire.

I’ve noticed lately that many of the people I talk to who work with computers have become a nostalgic lot. We’re all getting older. We speak fondly of our first Apple, lovingly recall reading our first issue of PC Magazine or PC Computing and chortle at the memory of attending some computer event where some now-bygone industry luminary was blind to his own company’s future downfall.

I’ve learned about a website for people like us: Old-Computers.com. You can read up on practically any ancient computer that ever existed and watch a 75-minute demo — perhaps the first ever recorded — given by Doug Engelbert and other researchers at Stanford in 1968 showing how computers could share information. (You’ll recognize such concepts as the mouse, hyperlink and email.)

Are you old enough to remember the Kaypro? I lugged one around in the mid-80s, thinking I was really cutting edge with my portable. (It had the heft of a sewing machine.)

Young people don’t talk about their first computer. The computing machines themselves are irrelevant. It’s all about the services they use. But you watch. Someday they’ll get that same  dreamy tone in their voices when they remember their first iPod or cellphone.

Mother’s Day is coming up soon, so I’ve been shopping for some digital picture frames to load and send out to the multiple moms in my family. Boy, are they pricey! Local stores are selling them for around $99 apiece. That’s too much for my budget, which hovers around $50 apiece. So I’m heading online to see if better deals can be found.

PriceGrabber says there are about 160 digital picture frame options listed in its database.

For example, there’s the miniature Axion 1.1-inch mini-digital picture frame that’s heart-shaped and comes in pink. No idea how many images the heart-shaped frame holds, because the description doesn’t tell. But I do know the resolution is 96×64 and that you need to load it from a PC, the way you’d load files onto a USB drive — by plugging it into a USB port. For $20, it’s a bargain, until you realize that the product name appears front and center, which kind of makes it look like something you’d pick up for free at a computer tradeshow. Sweetness rating: 1 heart.

Now, here’s an interesting addition to the offerings — an egg-shaped picture frame from Tricod. This also is about 1.1 inches in size, but it comes in a more tasteful silver — or blue, gray, pink or red. Since it has a tiny ring at the top, it can hang from a pendant or be used as a keychain. This one holds 56 images and includes software that will resize your photos automatically for you. It costs about $30. Sweetness rating: 3 hearts.

If you want to offer a wallet too, here’s a useful $40 item: The Women’s Digital Photo Wallet. The memory stores 55 color images, which show up on a screen that’s 1.4 inches on the diagonal (as are all the sizes I’ve referenced here). Also, the viewer is rechargeable, which means you don’t need to buy new batteries. The disadvantage of this offering, however, is that it’s wallet-based. Wallets are usually something you can pick out for a guy, in my experience (think Father’s Day), but not something most of my female friends and family members would cotton to. They have their special needs. Sweetness rating: 2 hearts.

For the more traditionally minded among us (and those of us who spend time trying to figure out appropriate Mother’s Day gifts could truly be called traditionally-minded), here’s a sub-$50 frame from Matsunichi (Mitsubishi’s less well known cousin). This is a 5.6-inch frame with 320×234 resolution. Here’s the tricky part to this frame though: You have to load your own memory card into the frame. It doesn’t have built-in memory. That’s great if you already have memory cards to hand over to the gift recipient. If you don’t have extra cards, that’ll be an extra expense (but it does allow you to supply a new card every year without having to worry about supplying a new frame too). Also, reviewers report that if you lose the documentation, you’ll never figure out how the frame operates because it’s not intuitive. On the other hand, they say the resolution is excellent for the price. Sweetness rating: 2 hearts (because for that price it only comes in black).

After a bit of pondering my options, I’m thinking the egg is my choice here. Why? It’s totally, weirdly appropriate for Mother’s Day, no?

The iPod Touch is all the rage, deservedly so, but there are other touchscreen Portable Media Players available.

Many have heard of the Archos 605, which was covered in the Blog posting “Internet Browser: $30“. Here are two other players which are well worth mentioning:

The first is the feature-packed Cowon D2. The Cowon D2 is a compact 3 by 2.2 by 0.6 inches with a 2.5 inch (diagonally) touchscreen. The touchscreen can be operated using an included triangular stylus or a finger. The player supports multiple audio file formats, as well as JPG photo display and video playback. It also has an FM radio along with voice, radio and line-in recording. The battery is rated for over 50 hours of audio playback and 10 hours of video playback. Firmware updates have added extra functionality including flash-based games and an optional flash based interface. There is also an SD Card slot which supports High-Capacity SD Cards.

The second is the Samsung YP-P2, which is closer to the iPod Touch in size, although about half an inch shorter and slimmer, but almost as thin, and sporting a 3 inch screen. Whereas the iPod Touch has Wi-Fi, the P2 has Bluetooth. This is where it gets interesting. The P2 can be paired with Bluetooth headphones or speakers. It also can be paired with a cellphone and the built-in microphone used to for a conversation (a non-hands free device?). The touch interface of the P2 supports finger tapping and swiping actions, although is not that precise according to several reviewers. The menu is customizable, and Samsung have released a number of firmware updates with new features. It supports a couple of common audio and video file formats. The P2 is currently available in 4GB and 8GB capacities, with a 16GB version having been announced. Unfortunately it does not have a memory expansion slot.

Both the Cowon D2 and the Samsung YP-P2 have excellent sound quality.

What do you get when you cross a SanDisk Sansa Clip with a SanDisk Sansa View?
The Sandisk Sansa Fuze.

This MP3 player, slightly bigger than the third generation iPod Nano, is squarely aimed as a competitor to the Nano and the 4GB and 8GB Zune. At 3.1 inches by 1.8 inches by 0.3 inches and weighing 2.1 oz it is a reasonably small player. It comes in a variety of colors and capacities: black (2GB, 4GB), blue, pink and red (4GB), and silver (8GB). Like most SanDisk Sansa media players it has a microSD expansion slot, which accepts High Capacity (microSDHC) cards. This means that currently an additional 12GB can be added to the player. A variety of audio formats are supported, including MP3, WMA, WAV and Audible. Subscription music is also supported via secure WMA. The Sansa Fuze also features an FM radio, voice recording, picture viewing and video playback. Its screen is only 1.9 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 220 by 176 pixels, so is not that great for watching videos.

Reviewers are almost unanimous in pointing out that SanDisk’s media players are steadily improving in build quality, and the Fuze is no exception. At around $100 for the 4GB version and $130 for the 8GB version, the Sansa Fuze is very competitively priced. I would definitely add it to my collection if I did not already have a too many media players.

This week is spring break, which means one thing around my household: Road trip! Time to visit friends and family — anything to prevent this adult from imposing permanent damage on the family heir in a fit of parental insanity.

That includes time with my mom, who surprised me recently when she told me on the phone that she has wireless now. How did that transpire? “It was included with TiVo,” she told me. That’s right. TiVo sells a device — the TiVo AG0100 Wireless USB Network Adapter – that lets users connect their digital video recorder with their 802.11g or b wireless home network. I’m no TiVo user. What do I know? (Apparently, she didn’t know about it either until my brilliant brother – who always thinks up the greatest gifts — got a unit and installed it for her.)

My mom loves TiVo. She has two of the machines in her home, one on the big screen in her living room; the other in one of the guest rooms where she does a lot of hanging out and watching recorded shows from HDTV.

And now she can transfer shows from one to the other TV and surf at the same time while she kicks back in her giant black-leather massage chair.

Reviewers on PriceGrabber report how, although it costs a bit more than other options, they’re quite happy with how easy it is to install and how quickly shows transfer from one machine to another or from their TiVos to their desktops.

I may not watch much TV, but I am a great sucker-upper of wireless broadband. What this means is, I’ll have no excuse not to bring my notebook computer with me when we go to visit. Wonder if that chair is available.

SanDisk is known for making relatively cheap MP3 Players which offer good value. Their players usually have decent sound quality, but are not known for excellent sound quality.

Until know that is. Reviewers are raving about the sound quality of the SanDisk Sansa Clip. On anythingbutipod the Sansa Clip review by Grahm Skee notes: “Sansas have not been known for good sound quality. However, over the last few new releases they have been getting progressively better with the Clip being the best sounding Sansa to date- even treading onto audiophile territory”.
Some of this audio quality is possibly due to a chip, specifically the SOC (system on chip), which ABI were looking for when they disassembled the Sansa Clip.

The SanDisk Sansa Clip is an ultra compact MP3 player. At 2.2 inches by 1.4 inches by 0.5 inch (56 by 36 by 13mm) without the removable belt clip, the Sansa Clip is bigger than the iPod Shuffle. It has a small rectangular, 1-inch (25mm) screen, and is available in 1, 2 and 4GB capacities. The 2GB version is available in a selection of colors: red, pink, and blue. Both the 1GB and 2GB version are also available in black, and the newer 4GB version in silver only. This small player features a built-in microphone for voice recordings (in WAV format), an FM tuner, recording from FM and Rhapsody support. It supports MP3, protected and unprotected WMA, and Audible files. With such a small screen, photo and video are not supported.

Sometime ago I mentioned the Creative Zen V Plus (see Get them while you can) as a previous generation good MP3 player at a decent price.

Another “good deal” is the popular but underrated SanDisk Sansa e200 series of MP3 Players. SanDisk media players are usually quite competitively priced, and this one can be found at bargain prices. SanDisk also still sells it from their website. The Sansa View, possibly intended as a replacement, is larger and heavier than the Sansa e200 series.

The e200 series is available in capacities from 2GB to 8GB. The rather confusing model numbers indicate the capacity: e250 is 2GB, e260 is 4GB, e270 is 6GB and the e280 is 8GB. The Sansa e280 was the first 8GB flash player available. The best values are probably for the 4GB and higher models. The e200s have microSD expansion card slots, so they can be expanded by up to 2GB. It is about the size of the second generation iPod Nano, but thicker. It is small enough to fit easily into just about any pocket.

One thing I like about this player is that it supports MSC (Mass Storage Class) and well as MTP (Media Transfer Protocol – Windows Only) USB modes. MTP mode requires using Windows Media Player or the Rhapsody software, but in MSC mode the player appears as a drive on your computer and you can just copy music files to it. This also means that it can be used with Mac and Linux PCs. The player has an FM Radio, which you can record from, voice recording and video playback – although at only 15 fps. All videos have to be converted by the SanDisk Media Converter to play on the 1.8 inch, 220 by 176 pixel resolution screen.

This is one of the few MP3 Players available today which has a user-replaceable battery. Instead of having to crack open the player and void the warranty, there are 4 screws on the back to remove the back plate and reveal the battery compartment.

Of course one of the advantages of buying a player like this over two years after it has been released is that most of the bugs have been ironed out with firmware updates.