PEBCAC

I was looking through my MP3 collection, all obtained through illegal means that involved boiling babies, smuggling drugs for terrorists and blasphemy of all the major deities. And if you believe that….

Well, some of these songs, I just don’t know where they came from. My iPod has a number of these mysterious songs that must be part of compilations–or something–and somehow appeared on my list. Really, I have no affinty for Blink-182 or N’Sync, yet somehow they show up. Yes, I will own up to the BeeGees, the ABBA and even one of the Eminem dics. That’s embarassing enough, what about the rest?

Click to check out the playlist from my iPod, it’s better than actually talking to someone. I find you can learn alot about folks by looking at what the listen/watch/read/eat/CONSUME: (there’s even more foolishness of my music server)

 

After some canoodling, I got my hands on two more Sony W600i’s. I’ve been using it for a week, and I love this phone. So rather than ‘dog’ on my other phones, I’m gonna talk about this little beauty. And a few samples:

Video: RIOT, Work (walking) Car (driving)

set to auto everything, 176×144 and high quality

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - listed under Misc.

auto everything, 1280×1024, high quality

DESIGN/FORMFACTOR

It’s Sony. Sony=Sexy, Apple=Sexy…it’s a technogeek cliche, but it’s true. Who else is marketing a bright orange phone? The screen is 1.8″ but seems bigger as the screen is most of the front of the phone.

The phone is a bit thick as it’s a swivel form factor. But the form factor is solid and the build seems great. The phone is usable in any ‘degree of swivel’, but locks solidly into place with a satisfying click.

The dedicated keys are great, except the annoying Cingular internet button (is this key hackable if the phone is unlocked?). In addition to the normal begin call and end call buttons are dedicated back buttons, a lock switch, a walkman button, play/pause, camera, volumeup/down. The only thing missing is a dedicated access to the profiles section. Although this isn’t really a business phone, it’s still a necessity. However, the directional keypad is pretty programmable, just not down to every level.

Call Quality

The call quality is solid and this phone gets the best reception of any I’ve had, including the Nokia 6882. The bluetooth is okay as well. Not all headsets are compatible with playing the mp3’s, but for talking and so forth, it’s great! Crystal clear bluetooth, but dedicate a button to the setup, because it will fall out of range and not automatically reconnect. This might be tweakable, but I’m not sure just yet.

MP3’s

Well it is a Walkman, but this phone surpasses my expectations. If it had more memory, like the w800, it would be replacing the ipod. I find I don’t listen to my iPod much outside of the car or on extremely long protests….so the W600 with a bit more memory would be suitable. As is it holds a few albums and longer podcasts, enough to hit the road during work.

Sound Quality is very nice and customizable with the built-in equalizer. The included headset is decent, but I recommend Eshure’s (steal them). The onboard speakers for music and speakerphone are LOUD. No, really REALLY LOUD. I was laughing my self stupid today as the BeeGee’s came blaring out of the speakers at ear splitting volume. Very dignified.

Camera/Video

While South Korea is enjoying 10mp 4/8gb camera, we’re left with VGA. Thankfully the Sony is sporting a 1.3mp and takes pretty nice photos at 1280×1024 and leaves other camera phones in the dust. The only thing better I’ve seen is the amazing camera on the beloved Cingular 8125.  

The flash is superbright, there are all kinds of onboard effects (sepia, negative, solorize, etc…).

Video is equally impressive, although it’s the annoying 3gp format (get quicktime). The quality exceeds the 1.3mp on the Nokia 6882 by alot. Heck, not using Realplayer is enough to make me happy. Check out the samples above.

Misc

Games rock on this phone. I haven’t busted all the specs out yet, but the phone plays JAVA apps and games. Gameloft includes some demo’s on the phone and has a great selection online. The games handle 3d better than a supernes. For a quickfix, playing games in landscape mode is a joy.

Themes are updateable and the phone has nice quasi-PDA functionality. I found a couple of nice sites. MyW600 is particularly nice. I’m still getting used to the PDA features and entering things with the keypad. However, I’ll either get a bluetooth pocket keyboard, or learn to use Outlook.

Conclusion

Nice phone, not the business phone I need, but great for throwing in a pocket on the weekend. You really don’t need a camera unless yr planning on taking large frameable photos, and you can leave the ipod behind if yr not out for days… I’ve already hooked the w600 to my DLO transmitter, and no problems.

Highly recommended. The damn bastards at Sony do it again.

Important information about the least restrictive enviornment in Pennsylvania for students working with an IEP, as a result of the Gaskin vs Commonwealth settlement. here

It’s nice to know there are still people out there willing to fight.

While most of my friends that utilize wheelchairs are already dangerous enough, Tank Chair aims to make them invincible. Tank Chair kicks butt and looks like it might make a suitable weapons platform. I thought the iBot was cool. It’s got nothing on this….

Tank Chair is a Custom off-road wheelchair that can go anywhere outdoors. Conquers Streams, Mud, Snow, Sand, and Gravel, allowing you to get back to nature, and can also climb up and down stairs.

read more | digg story

I love the folks at digg, and more importantly, the Simpsons.

There’s no arguement that the Simpsons is still the smartest and best written show on TV. Check out the teaser for the movie.

Here is the Simpsons Movie Trailer shown on FOX at about 8:22 PM - it’s the same one shown in theaters with Ice Age 2. Enjoy! - from digg

read more | digg story

This giant Tetris game was created using eleven custom-built circuit boards, a twelve-story data network, a personal computer running Linux, a radio-frequency video game controller, and over 10,000 Christmas lights. It took over five months of planning and can be seen off Interstate 95 in Rhode Island.

read more | digg story

For those of you that view cats as vermin, or simply an annoyance… I have a new hero for you.

17th Century Renaissance man Athanasius Kircher, inventor, philosopher and creator of the CAT PIANO!!! Yes, the Cat Piano.

Using precisely picked kittens and adminstering a sharp spike to the cats tail created a chosen wail in a paricular key. Thus, the cat piano.

Why this man doesn’t have a stamp is beyond me.

No one knows how to sell danger quite like the US government. From the color coded terror threat system to the duck and cover films of the 50’s, Uncle Sam wants you to know, everything is A-OKAY!

Yucca Mountain Johnny is a little Joe Camel, a little spongebob yellow and American Man to the Core….speaking of core, it’s not really spongebob yellow, it’s uranium cake yellow isn’t it?

I don’t know about you, but he makes me feel safer about having tons of nuclear waste underneath my feet. I smell a theme park!

 

Having been a closeted Escher fan, this is a really nice build that took a tremendous amount of work and engineering….and what did you do with your weekend?

Check out the story and video…from digg

“Shigeo Fukuda has masterfully recreated Escherâ??s Waterfall â?? where water seems to flow uphill â?? in a small scale model.”

read more | digg story

The Internet Archive project has really grown up. Not since the days of the great C.C. Peabody and his boy Sherman has time travel seemed so possible. I wish this project was begun earlier, as some of my fondest memories of the web begin in 1995, including well known sites I had designed. Below are some of my favorite finds from the Wayback Machine (with explinations). note, most sites are missing images and functionality, it’s like archeology, get over it.

• Pitt (1-12-97) I remember when the University, and most others, didn’t have public sites. Ugh.  
• W3C (1-14-98) The world wide web consortium homepage. HTML 4.0!! Woo hoo!
• Real - (6-5-97)The first stock I bought outright and individually. At one time a revolutionary product. Now marginalized.
• Sony and Sony Electronics (12-20-96) - I was already working at Sony when these sites went online. I distinctly remember editing them and adding messages to friends and family, hidden on the main pages, because no one knew or cared.
• Microsoft - (10-12-96). This isn’t the earliest version. I remember when Microsoft FIRST put up a website. Damn I’m old
• Google - (12-2-98) Earliest archived version of Google. Not much different than now. Good design just works.
• So it goes… (2-9-99) (this is an image of the dying days of the worlds largest poetry magazine [at the time], a site designed by me] . I miss this project. It actually was folded into pitt way back in 97.

Digg is running a story about the EU space program plans for some innovative projects that seem more like PR than ‘hard science’. This isn’t a bad thing though, the space program could use all the PR it can get. With the 25th Anniversary of the Space Shuttle looking more like a grim retrospective than a celebration of our achievements…things are still not well with the worlds space programs. With further setbacks in space tourism and commerical failures, maybe a flower is exactly what we need on the moon….or maybe I’m working with too many hippies…

read more | digg story

More in the ongoing saga. The first set of benchmarks seem like bunk though, at least from an even slightly scientific viewpoint. Not fair comparisons. Someone with a little more cred should get on this.

Apple’s Intel-based Macs running Windows are faster than their PC counterparts, according to new benchmarks from CNET.

read more | digg story

Finally! Steve Jobs pulls his head from his bum and decides to compete for real. Okay…not for real, it’s still gonna be a niche market. But as of today, officially (but in beta), you can boot and run XP on your Intel Mac. –thanks yossarian.
from digg

More and more people are buying and loving Macs. To make this choice simply irresistible, Apple will include technology in the next major release of Mac OS X, Leopard, that lets you install and run the Windows XP operating system on your Mac. Called Boot Camp (for now), you can download a public beta today

read more | digg story

Update: One day they cure impotence, grow muscle and make you more attractive and the next minute, they cook your brain, give you tumors and make you look like an arrogant, headset-wearing, jerk. They’re cell phones and you gotta love ‘em. Or revert to a landline like a civilized person, and stop taking phone calls during meals, or more importantly, when someone is physically in front of you. If one more colleague answers a cell phone call while I’m talking to them, and it’s not urgent, I’m going to have a frickin stroke. Whew! I feel better.

Things are slowly proceeding, albeit proceeding, on the wedding. Plans are finally getting made and we have the license now.

Locally, updates have been made to the Gallery and Friends, Enemies and Media lists.

The site has had a major traffic surge, mainly due to the stupid cell phone and tech articles. Hits topped over 52,000 last month and we exceeded our bandwidth…almost twice. Will keep things going until it gets boring or no one is reading. In case you missed it, check out:

• Distributed Computing - SIGN UP!!!!
• ADAPT Hits Nashville
• Freezing Dog Poo
• Cingular 8125 review
• Pre-Fab

and this….

After the successful election in Liberia of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf … the president and internation authorities have finally captured and transfered Robert Taylor, former warlord/president, to a War Crimes Court. The foot dragging of Africans authorities, even the Harvard educated Johnson-Sirleaf, shows that there is still a thick air of fear and corruption hanging over most African nations. Progress will not and cannot proceed in an enviornment that fosters death.

Perpetual insider Robert X. Cringely writes on his blog, that the reason Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen left the company was indeed his health…just not for the reasons you’re thinking.

I’ve always been a big fan of both Bill Gates and Allen, as much for their philanthropic efforts as their geek and business accomplishments. But the article in Cringely’s blog is a little disturbing and will only feed into the view of Microsoft/Bill Gates as the devil. And Cringely does everything but accuse Bill Gates of trying to kill Allen himself, with a tone that is worthy of a blog…and not a journalist. He relates an unconfirmed story:

During one of those last long nights working to deliver DOS 2.0 in early 1983, I am told that Paul Allen heard Gates and Ballmer discussing his health and talking about how to get his Microsoft shares back if Allen were to die.

Maybe that’s just the sort of fiduciary discussion board members have to have…

It sounds crass, but YES!, that is the kind of conversation responsible board members have. It’s unpleasant, not natural and crude…but you do it because it’s the ethical and proper thing to do. Microsoft is a publically traded company, Allen had lymphpoma and senior IBM managers (the main client at the time) were speculating if Allen would live. However, at that age, and Allen was young, I would have quit too had I overheard the conversation….but would that have made me right?

So, yeah, Bill might be a disreputable fellow…but Cringely and his irresponsible writing are probably worse. At least Bill is giving something valuable away with his fortune and brains, Cringely is just using bandwidth.

After having my fill of phones, providers and customer support folks, I’ve settled in to a couple of weeks here with my Nokia 6682. Pictures are posted in the Misc. Gallery 1,2,3,4,5, and videos are below:

Mall Walk Through, Riot, Car Ride

(VLC, Realv10, or Quicktime..among others, support 3gp/mp3video. this is a problem vs other WMP friendly formats.) 

Images were shot with the settings set to HIGH and 1280×960. Everything else is set to auto. Video was shot to a memory card with the resolution 176×144.

For the other adventures in cell phones, look below, or search the archives for cell.

my review, and Cnet’s:

Design/Build

Nice solid build. Feels like an expensive phone. The only area that feels a little weak is the slide for the camera, however the ‘play’ seems intentional with the design. The keys are small but the beveled edges make texting no problem. The LCD is large and I recommend a screen protector. You will be hard pressed to find a custom case, although, due to it’s unusual formfactor, I’m using the iPod 5G case. Nice extra features are the brightly backlit keys, dedicated voice recording and theme buttons and the well designed ‘thumbstick’. Unfortunate issues of design are the inclusion of reduced MMC vs SD or MiniSD and the chintzy cingular silver vs the fly nokia iPod pearl. But that’s negligable.

Call Quality

As with most Nokia Phones, the call quality is exceptional. No problems and the loudspeaker is a pretty good volume. Bluetooth implementation is good, not perfect though. My last few phones have picked up and searched for my headset under all circumstances. Sometimes after being off, I need to ‘connect’ my headset using the button on it, or occasionally via the handset connectivity options. However, when it’s working, which is 98%+ of the time…it’s clear. And using an enhanced set of protocols, the bluetooth pulls off another nice feature (see features below).

OS/Menu

The phone is running Symbian 6 and has a plethora of software available. The menus can be highly customized. Themes, ringtones and office management software abounds. The phone can get slightly bogged down with complex themes and backgrounds, but is basically responsive. Only when playing MP3’s, taking pictures and making phone calls all at once, was I able to make it lock up. Other than that, the included nokia pc suite software is pretty easy to use and transfers all media, contacts, etc…

X-tra Features

MP3 Player - setting up a dedicated key makes the MP3 player easy to access. The player has the usual settings and views (now playing, artists, albums, all songs) and even displays album art. The controls are via the main thumbstick and volume is good over the onboard speaker. BUT, the system really shines paired with a bluetooth headset, where the music streams wirelessly. This is great for grabbing a quick podcast and not grabbing the whole ‘pod.

1.3 mp camera - The pics don’t seem as sharp as the Sony w600i or Cingular 8125. Judge for yourself/2. However, it does seem to take better indoor pics with and w/o the flash.

Video - Video doesn’t seem nearly as clear as the 8125. Plus the format isn’t too friendly. The 8125 did straight mpeg4. The 6682 shoots in 3gp. Which seems native to RealPlayer. The images are pixelated, and not as clear as the 8125. Additionally, video playback is via Real Player, not the trusty MSMedia Player.

Conclusion

Pro’s

• nice solid build
• nice pics
• great call quality
• appealing design, unusual.

Con’s

• unusual build makes accessories tough to get
• reduced size MMC is hard to get
• REAL PLAYER?!?!

All in all , a pretty great phone, hell, I have two and it’s been more than a week! Will continue to update as I play with the third-party apps more.