CES on This Week in Vegas

will.craddock — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:00:05 GMT

This is a big week for the geek in me, the Consumer Electronics Show is on in Vegas this week. This is the ultimate candy shop for all things electronic, including the newest releases of laptops, TV's, audio equipment, automotive technology, gadgets and anything else that requires a battery or power of some type! The show has in the past included an opening keynote address from Bill Gates, that has included some infamous predictions, statements and demos….but this year the Microsoft presentation will be handed by Steve Ballmer. Can’t wait to see what the news will be, how it will be presented and received.

Instead of going over the thousands of new items that are being introduced, I will point you to the ultimate bloggers for all things gadget and technical….Engadget. Check their site or subscribe to the RSS feed as I do to keep up on fact, fiction and rumours on a daily basis. This is a very active feed, and one with some cool information….expect 20-30 posts a day at least!

Consider it a public service announcement :)

cheers

-W

Toys for Big Boys....and Girls

will.craddock — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:33:00 GMT

First things first, I have been tardy in updating the blog over the last month or so....but with a reason. It took a little over 7 weeks from the day I moved into my house until I had broadband service. I have come to learn this is not shocking for anyone I have spoken with but as compared to the service I had from Canadian ISP's, it shocked me. That is now behind me and I will be able to share and communicate regularly from now forward.

Onto the reason for this post....new toys :)

Upon arrival in Ireland I needed to get a new mobile and being the geek I am some new hardware for "testing"purposes.So here is a quick overview of some of the toys and my thoughts on them.

Mobile....Samsung i900 Omnia

This phone was touted by some as being the iPhone killer for the Windows Mobile platform. Now I am not willing to give it this type of acclaim, it is a really good phone. I have had 4 different Windows Mobile smartphones and 2 blackberry's in the last 4 years for my previous jobs. This is far and way the best device I have owned in this time. Some of that is hardware and some of that is Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. The phone itself has one of the brightest, high resolution screens I have ever seen on a smartphone. The nifty flash like interface switches from landscape to portrait as the device is rotated. The touch screen is responsive and accurate, always a complaint I have had with previous versions. I was transitioning from devices with full keyboards to a touch only device and that took a few days of transition but now it is second nature. As a heavy mobile user, I appreciate the integration with Exchange and Office that Windows Mobile provides. With built in GPS, Wi-fi, Bluetooth and 16 gig of storage, this is a killer device. The only real downside I have with it is the lack of a headphone jack to take advantage of all that storage and the Windows Media Player. I know I can get a pair of Bluetooth headphones, but I don't have them yet.

I purchased mine unlocked from expansys in the US but my understanding is that the phone will be available on Vodafone this month. I would highly recommend anyone looking for a replacement consider it.

Netbook....HP 2133

I sitting here writing this post from my new HP 2133 netbook. I love this thing. A tiny little laptop with a 7" glossy screen, VIA 1.6 processor, 4 hour battery life, and built in 1.3 meg web camera. I ordered one with the max 2 gig of RAM and a 160 gig 5400 RPM HD. These specs allowed me to install a clean version of Windows Vista Ultimate when the device arrived. Windows found all the drivers except the Broadcomm network driver. Grabbed that off the restore DVD that came with it and I am connected to the web. Windows update takes care of updating all the drivers to the current versions and I am ready to go.

The system is exceptionally responsive while running Vista. I of course can not take advantage of the Areo interface and the Ultimate Dreamscape backgrounds. I am however able to play back videos from DVD, Div-x or other formats, making this a great little portable media canter. With external connections for VGA, audio and USB the device holds some powerful options.

What I like most is the portability this little powerhouse gives me. I am still able to work fully in Office 2007, RDP into a server, surf the web and check my email without causing this little bad boy to slow down. At only 1.3 kg I feel comfortable taking this anywhere in a small over the shoulder bag. Combine that with a 3G card and from the LUAS, on the train or while watching TV I am able to work anywhere easily. This is not a replacement for my Tablet or Laptop, but it sure has me thinking about it.

These are my favourite 2 new additions. I also picked up a couple of HP XW8000 workstations for use in building a demo lab off eBay and have a Dell 9"mini enroute that I am hacking to run the MAC OS 10.5.5. I am really excited about this device as I will be able to test running a MAC inside a SBS 2008 setting with Exchange, network connectivity, etc. And again being a netbook (that for whatever reason Apple does not seem to want to join the market with at this time) I will be able to take it anywhere and work easily. It also has an 8 gig SSD drive, so it will be interesting to see what the performance gains will be against the HP.

Well that is it for this edition of "Äs the "Geek Works", tune next time for more geeky ramblings.

Will Craddock's Technology Adventure in Ireland : laptops

CES on This Week in Vegas

Toys for Big Boys....and Girls