Ever been looking through your photos, looked at one and thought ” That’s a great shot, where the hell did I take that?”. Ever wanted a record of exactly where you went on your holiday and in exactly which place your took a photo?  Well geotagging your photos is what you need to do.  Basically longitude and latitude information is put into your photo’s EXIF information and many programs or picture hosting sites can read this information and display where you took the photo on a map.

Some cameras these days come with GPS built into them, but you probably don’t really want to have to upgrade you camera gear just to get GPS information, and it doesn’t help if you’ve got multiple cameras (doesn’t everyone have multiple cameras? ). You could spend the extra money and buy a separate data logger however the good thing is that most smartphones or tablets have a GPS built into it these days, and using the right software you can use your device to geotag with the equipment you already have.  While this article is  based on Android devices, all you need is the right data logger program on your iOS or Windows or other OS device to make use of the tutorial.

There’s two software components to the process of geotagging your photos. You need a program that will talk to the GPS on your device and log GPS position data at specific time periods, and then a program that will be able to read and match the time stamp on your photo’s EXIF information with the longitude and latitude at that time and then write this information into the photo’s EXIF data. One important thing to note is that for the most accurate data, the time on your device needs to exactly match the time on your camera. The best thing is that you don’t have to spend big dollars on these packages; all the applications I’m using here are free.

GPS Status and Toolbox

Before I go into the two packages, if you’re playing with the GPS on your Android device then one of the most useful utilities you can have is GPS Status and Toolbox. This little app shows you a graphical representation of which GPS satellites you can see and which ones you’re locked onto. It can also help in managing A-GPS data,a small file that can assist in getting faster satellite locks. If I’m having GPS issues, this is always the first app I reach for. You can click on any of the pictures to see bigger versions

Open GPS Tracker

Open GPS Tracker is the data logging app that needs to be loaded onto your Android Device. When you start recording, your latitude and longitude is logged into a file at certain time intervals. Depending on your circumstances, Open GPS has 4 different logging intervals.  So if you’re walking or working in a small area, you can probably get away with larger time intervals; if you were taking pictures while in  a moving car you would want shorter intervals. Shorter intervals will give you more accurate tracking of path, but do note that it will also have an impact on the battery life of your device.

• Fine : GPS updates every second after at least 5 meters movement
• Normal : GPS updates every 15 seconds after at least 10 meters movement
• Coarse : GPS updates every 30 seconds after at least 25 meters movement
• Global : Use GPS and WiFi signals to triangulate every 5 minutes after at least 500 meter movement

If there’s no signal for a specified time, an alarm will sound so you know that you’re not logging anymore.  There’s a plethora of other options as well, but for the purposes of geotagging, it’s really only the logging interval that’s the important one. You can see that Open GPS can also make use of Google Maps on your device to display your path live (warning: this may involve data download charges on your device).

Test Rig and Procedure

 So I had to take one of the boys somewhere, so always the opportunist, I set up the above rig.  My HTC Desire running Open GPS Tracker, Swann Freestyle HD  and its remote all “securely” attached via a sticky pad to my dash. It’s no Google Map mobile, but it’ll do All I needed to do was make sure my phone and camera are synchronised, set the time interval to normal (15 sec), start the GPS on my phone, open the app , start tracking and drive away.  At random intervals I used the remote to safely take a picture.

Here’s the final trip shown on a Google Map overlay. While you’re travelling along, you can also use the app to do things like take notes, voice recordings or mark spots with recorded co-ordinates for future reference.  You can see on the picture that there’s even an indication of the speed I was doing at each stage, keyed to the legend on the right. The app can also tell you how far you’ve travelled (15.89km), maximum speed (71.1 km/h), elapsed time (26min) and total elevation (242m), again not information used in geotagging but may be useful just the same for other purposes.  The important thing is that the app logged 93 waypoints, which is the important information needed for geotagging.

Open GPS can export the waypoints in a GPX file format, a standardised format for input and output of waypoint files. The files are stored locally and can be exported and then  transferred off from the phone via standard file transfer, or the app has the ability to export using other installed apps such as Gmail or Dropbox.

So the results of my little trip, 49 photos (basically taken at random, don’t expect any Peter Dombrovskis here) and a GPX file containing 93 waypoints.

GPicSync

GPicSync is another free, Open Source program that puts the GPS information into your pictures. It’s available for Windows, Linux, and OS X 10.5, supports both JPEG and RAW formats and it’s pretty easy to use. Point it at your picture folder, point it at your .GPX file and let it run. GPicSync will correlate the time stamps on your photos with the timestamps from the GPX file and then write the most relevant co-ordinates into the EXIF information for that photo. Once again GPicSync has the ability to do a whole lot more that’s outside the scope of this article.

Viewing

Here’s the details of one of my processed pictures. You can see that GPicSync has put in longitude, latitude and altitude.

Click on “View in Google Earth” in GPicSync and voila, a full picture of your trip and where each photo was taken. Click on the thumbnails and you’ll get a bigger thumbnail of the photo.  Cool huh !

If you zoom into the map, you’ll see what I mean about getting the correct time intervals.  Logging every 15 seconds has me driving through fences, backyards and houses.  If I wanted a more accurate path then I would have been better to use 1 second intervals (with the associated higher battery drain and larger output file).  It really depends on exactly how “accurate” you want the logging to be.

Here’s the photos being viewed in Picasa 3
And here as a Picasa Web picture via Google+

Many online photo-sharing websites now support geotagging, including Flickr and SmugMug. To me, being able to place and visualise a picture on a map gives my photo a bit more “relevance” both for myself and anyone else that views the photo.

Conclusion

Once you’ve set everything up and got a workflow going, it’s easy to geotag your photos.  No longer will you have to wonder where a photo was taken, or if that photo was in this city or that city.  Given that you’ve most likely already got GPS capability in your Android device, why pay more money for additional equipment and why not make use of it?

My only big disappointment? That I didn’t set this all up 1000s and 1000s of pictures earlier. I’ve got so many photos, including overseas holidays in Vietnam, Thailand, Ankar Wat, San Francisco… that don’t have geotagged information in them……guess I’ll just have to go back and retake them  :)

Final words/warnings

• Displaying live maps in Open GPS Tracker may incur data charges
• Using the GPS on your device will affect battery life
• Please do note that GPS positioning isn’t 100% accurate, and there will be some variation from your actual position
• If you are publishing geotagged photos on a public forum, be careful what you put up and what information you might be giving away!

Filed in categories: Android related, Articles, Digital Cameras and Gear, GPS

Tagged: Android, Geotagging, GPS

How to: Geotag your Photos with an Android Device originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 24, 2012 at 11:00 am.

One of the best file managers on Android is ES File Explorer. Most people probably only use it to handle local files and maybe LAN shares, but if used properly, ES File Explorer handles so much more than that.  With the proliferation of cloud-based storage such as Sugarsync, Dropbox, your 50GB Box account,  and sync-enabled 25GB Skydrive account, ES File Explorer has gradually been adding little gems so that it handles Cloud Storage as well. Let’s step through how you can set this all up

Here’s the screen that most ES File Explorer users are probably most familiar with.  (Click on any of the pics to get enlargements). It’s the standard SD-Card directory with all your standard Android directories.

If however you click on the top left hand corner where it says “Local”……

You’ll get a few different choices.  ES File Explorer does a really good job of handling and even allowing you to play media from LAN shares like Windows SMBs.  It supports FTP Servers and Bluetooth shares and even allows you to access root directories, if your device is rooted as well. But today’s lesson is all about accessing your cloud storage so the bottom option, “Net”  is the one we’re looking for.

You can see up in the top left, the “Local” has changed to “Net”, and I’ve now got access to my cloud storage drives. Here I’ve got two Dropbox, a Sugarsync, and a Skydrive account.

By clicking on the “+ New” button, you get a choice of adding a new Box, Dropbox, SugarSync or Skydrive account. Once you’ve chosen one, you’ll be asked for your credentials, and voila! Your favourite cloud storage is available in the familiar ES layout. One thing to note is that I can’t actually get an authentication screen up to add my Box account at the moment.  I keep getting a network error, but I’m sure that’ll be fixed or work soon.

I can now just tag my way down into, say, my Dropbox account to an individual file level just like I normally would under ES File Explorer.   From there I can manipulate all the files or directories just like normal: make directories, create or delete, copy or move, anything you could normally do with a file system.

So why is this all important and so powerful ?

• You don’t have to download all the individual provider apps
• You can use the familiar ES File Explorer interface to manipulate all your files both local, LAN, and cloud-based
• You can easily use multiple user accounts for the same provider, compared with  having to login and logout of apps all the time.
• You can copy or move files between all your different cloud providers or your local storage without having to temporarily store it somewhere. Using the apps to move a file from one cloud provider to another, you’d have to download from one provider via their app to your SD card, then upload it to your other cloud provider from SD.  Using ES File Explorer, it’s an easy copy and paste from one to the other.

One “shortcoming” to take note of is that the Dropbox and the Box apps keep local cached copies of file structures when you’ve got no network connectivity. As such, you can actually still upload files into these apps when you’re not connected, and the apps will sync your files once you’re connected again. ES File Explorer needs to be connected to the internet to be able to do anything with your cloud storage.

To me ES File Explorer was always the best option for a file manager, but now with Cloud Storage support I’m on cloud 9.

Filed in categories: Android related, Articles

Tagged: Android app, cloud storage

How to: ES File Explorer for Android – Cloud Management Heaven originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 17, 2012 at 10:00 am.

When you live in Southern Indiana like I do, seeing a celebrity is a rare event. Lucky for me, I work for Cummins Inc. and our Cummins Turbo Diesel engine just happens to power the Tornado Intercept Vehicle 2 (TIV 2), featured on the Discovery Channel television shows “Storm Chasers” and “Mythbusters”. This vehicle has been designed to withstand 150MPH winds and I got a chance to see it up close and personal this afternoon when film maker and reality TV personality Sean Casey brought it by for a meet and greet.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

About Sean Casey (from Discovery Channel website):

For the past 12 years, Sean Casey has been roaming the country chasing the shot that will end his IMAX film about tornadoes. With the guidance of leading tornado scientist Dr. Josh Wurman, Sean’s mission has been to get a one-of-a-kind shot from inside a tornado. To accomplish his goal, Sean built the TIV, or Tornado Intercept Vehicle. This 16,000-pound armored tank is outfitted with wind-resistant flaps and anchor spikes to keep him safe while filming inside a twister. Last season, Sean split from long-time partner Josh, and with the help of his own team of meteorologists, finally got The Shot he was looking for. But he isn’t satisfied. Passionate about making the best film possible, he returned to Tornado Alley in 2010 with a new team, determined to get a better intercept. With medic Marcus Gutierez driving the TIV and meteorologist Brandon Ivey navigating, Sean will continue to pursue his goal, as well as document Vortex 2, the largest tornado research project in U.S. history.

Powered by a Cummins Turbo Diesel, the TIV 2 has logged over 100,000 miles across the US, chasing tornados and severe weather. The Spring chase season is here and Cummins has been helping owner Sean Casey prepare for it by getting the TIV 2 road ready. The season lasts 8-10 weeks, with the TIV 2 logging over 35,000 miles.

This year, Sean and his TIV 2 crew will not only be capturing film for a sequel to his IMAX film currently in theaters “Tornado Alley”, but will also be capturing scientific data for a national Science Foundation grant to better understand the dynamics of tornadoes to increase warning times.

The TIV 2 is built like a tank and weighs over 14,000 pounds. Sean and his team started building it back in 2007 and based it around a Dodge Ram 3500 which was converted to 6×4 wheel drive. It may look cumbersome, but the Cummin’s engine produces 625 horsepower with a top speed of 100mph.

When Sean and his team do catch the storm they are chasing, six hydraulic skirts around the TIV 2 drop down to deflect wind over the TIV to stabilize it and protect the underside from debris. Four hydraulically operated anchoring spikes plunge into the ground to keep it in place.

The vehicle has bullet-resistant windows and a layer of armor made of a combination of steel, Kevlar, polycarbonate and rubber which covers a steel frame.

There’s a turret on top to allow for Sean’s IMAX filming.

The TIV 2 even has a siren so it can act as a mobile alert system.

I had to smile when I saw the picture taped on the dash next to the mess of wires, dials, knobs and levers in the Mad Max-esque cockpit inside the TIV 2. I guess even macho storm chasing guys with a vehicle that can withstand 150 mph winds will welcome a guardian angel’s protection.

It was really cool getting to see the TIV 2. My only regret… I didn’t get it for a week to test drive it!

Filed in categories: Articles, Car Gear

Tagged: Car, gadget diary

Julie’s Gadget Diary 05-02-12 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 2, 2012 at 5:43 pm.

April 22nd has been designated as Earth Day.  But taking care of our Earth doesn’t have to happen on only one specific date in a year.  This is our planet and Earth Day should be every day!  We must care for mother nature so that our future generations can grow and expand to a galaxy far far away. . .

Technology has grown to the point where consumer products actually require more resources to create than ever before.  But our planet has a limited supply of those resources.  And most of those rare earth minerals are situated in China.

When we were kids, we all learned the importance of recycling.  Recycling cans, bottles, and paper so that we can reuse them in other products like pens, toilet paper, etc.  But what about electronics that we don’t use any more? 

In the last 15 years, there has been a surge in recycling for electronics.  In the beginning, most consumers just dumped their used electronics in the trash which in turn was dumped in our country’s landfill.  The problem with that is those electronic components contain toxic parts which will decompose and get introduced back in to the environment.  These toxic components harm our environment and eventually the government thought of a “solution to our problem”.

The government “solved the problem” by shipping the toxic electronic components to China.  China has been booming in the last 10 years.  They are going through their industrial phase and expanding factories everywhere.  These factories need resources which we were providing as electronic components.  China then sends out its recycling workforce to disassemble and strip these electronic components to get at the plastic, metals, etc.  The problem with China’s way of recycling is that it also harms the environment and also its own people in the process.  So this in turn isn’t really a way to “solve the problem”.  Harming the environment in another country is still in fact harming the environment.  Also during this time, most places don’t offer free recycling.  Consumers actually have to pay to have their electronics recycled.  Not many consumers do that since why would you want to pay to throw something out?  So at the end most consumers just throw it out with the trash.  Problem not solved.

Now the last 5 years, many corporations are offering free recycling at their stores.  You might have noticed them at places like Best Buy where they have a few bins for you to recycle cell phones, empty ink cartridges, etc.  And some other places like Staples are offering incentives when you bring back empty ink cartridges.  So what really happens with those products being recycled?  I don’t have any concrete facts about Best Buy but I can provide some insight to what happens to those empty ink cartridges at Staples.

To a consumer, you might think that Staples ships those empty ink cartridges back to their respective manufacture to be reused or recycled.  That would be the logical thinking.  But the truth is that Staples just dumps those cartridges in their dumpsters at the end of the day.  Don’t believe me?  Take a peek inside their dumpster and you’ll see boxes of used cartridges just laying in there.  This is also verified by a Staples employee who was actually dumping those cartridges out.  Staples just uses the illusion of “recycling” and incentives to lure you in to purchasing new ink cartridges from them instead of their competitors.  Dumping these empty ink cartridges in the dumpster isn’t considered recycling and in fact will harm the environment.  Also it’s bad for corporate image.

So at this point in time, we can’t trust the government or big corporations to do it right.  In my opinion, the best recycling program is not to recycle but to reuse instead.  If you have an old computer that’s just too slow for you then don’t throw it out.  Give it to someone less fortunate than you, donate it to a church, give it to Goodwill or even just sell it on ebay for someone else to use.  Used electronics can be handed down to the next generation or given away.  You can also refill those empty ink cartridges at ink refill stores.  Even you can sell those empty cartridges on ebay for people that actually refill them.

Reuse IS recycling!

Filed in categories: Articles, Miscellaneous

Tagged: Earth Day, recycle

Earth Day and Technology originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 22, 2012 at 11:00 am.

I’m happy to report that I’ve been writing in my journal almost every day since last Fall. In addition to my regular journal, I’ve also been writing in a Q&A a Day: 5 Year Journal since January 1st. This is a neat little journal that asks you a question each day and gives you a couple of lines to write your answer. On each page there is room for 5 answers. The idea is to write the year for each entry so you can see how your answers change over time. For those of you that would like to start a journal but don’t think you can keep up with it because you can never think of anything to write, this is a super easy way to keep one because the writing topic is given to you each day.

My main journal is an unlined Orange 3×5 inch Rhodia webbie. I don’t write anything very important in it. Usually just a quick summary of my day and an occasional clipping, picture, or doodle to go along with it. I love the feel of the Rhodia notebook. It’s a hard bound book and the cover has an almost padded feel that I love. The Clairefontaine paper is heavier than Moleskine paper, so you don’t have to worry much about ink bleeding through.

So here’s the thing… I only have about 30 pages left in this journal before I can start a new one. Although I really like Rhodia notebooks for the reasons mentioned above, I’ve been having trouble deciding what my next notebook is going to be. Even though I have a whole stack of Moleskines, another Orange Rhodia (lined) and a Quo Vadis Habana (which also has Clairefontaine paper – lined), I remain undecided. I think my problem stems from the fact that the Rhodia and the Quo Vadis are both lined and I prefer blank unlined paper. Btw, the Quo Vadis Habana is a very nice notebook too. It’s a little larger than the pocket Moleskine and Rhodia webbie at 4 x 6 inches. But it also has a nice padded cover that really feels good in your hand.

While I’ve been trying to make up my mind about my journal choice, I’ve been surfing around to see if there may be other great notebook brands that I’ve overlooked. I did happen upon this inexpensive Moleskine sized Paperblanks Flexi Mini Back Pocket notebook from Lovenotebooks.com. The description said the notebook had blank pages but it’s actually lined… Otherwise I love the look of it. I wish Rhodia and / or Quo Vadis would offer a natural leather colored version of their notebooks.

Speaking of natural leather, I got creative the other day… I took the Gfeller Casemakers notebook cover that I reviewed and gave it a sun tattoo. I had a wooden peace sign that I just sat on the leather while placing it outside in the sunlight for about 4 hrs. The sun tanned the leather, making it a little darker, while the leather under the peace sign didn’t change. Nifty huh?

I don’t use the Gfeller cover in a conventional way. I’ve been using it as a holder for a Moleskine Cahier notebook and a Field Notes notebook. I got the idea from the Midori Traveler’s Notebook that I reviewed awhile back. It works ok… the notebooks tend to slide around in the slots designed to hold the cover of a 3 x 5″ Rhodia. I’ve thought about punching holes in it and adding some elastic bands, but I don’t want to ruin it. I still have plans to make my own covers and a few other things with a large piece of leather that I purchased months ago. Anyone else out there like to make their own covers, etc?

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: gadget diary

Julie’s Gadget Diary 04-18-12 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 18, 2012 at 6:01 pm.

In my last gadget diary post a few weeks ago I mentioned that I had been day dreaming about my favorite Android feature – desktop widgets. I love my iPhone, but I would love it even more if it had widgets. I’d be overjoyed if I could just display my next several appointments on the home screen. My iPhone has been jailbroken for awhile and I knew I could configure it to show calendar entries in the notification panel, but that wasn’t good enough for me. So one thing led to another and I switched back to my Motorola Droid X. That switch lasted less than a day because my new best friend Jared left a comment to that post that pointed me to a couple wonderful apps: LockInfo and Iconoclasm. Those two apps along with a few other goodies have made me fall in love with my iPhone all over again.

First of all, to take advantage of this awesomeness, you will have to jailbreak your iPhone. It’s not difficult, it’s not illegal and you SHOULD do it. Trust me… Mine has been jailbroke for awhile now and I’ve not noticed any problems with stability, battery life etc. So don’t be a chicken, it takes less than 5 minutes or so to do it. Just google jailbreak and you’ll find more info that you ever want to read about it.

After your device has been jailbroken, you’ll have an alternative app store called Cydia. Yes, you can still buy apps from the regular app store too. But Cydia has all the cool stuff that Apple doesn’t want you to have. Like LockInfo.

LockInfo lets you add an HTC Sense style weather widget, stock widget, calendar entries (yay!), favorite contacts, last text messages, emails, reminders and more to your lock screen AND even better, your home screen. Check out my home screen in the above image. Nifty huh? I don’t like to have a lot of clutter on my first screen, so I just have the weather widget (because it looks cool) and my next 4 calendar entries. LockInfo isn’t free, but you do get a trial version so you can try before you buy. If you fall in love with it like I did, it will set you back $7.99. But it’s really worth it.

Once I found LockInfo, I started looking around for a few other apps to make the iPhone do what I want instead of what Apple wants. For example, I am not a fan of the “folders” feature. You can see one folder in the image above in the bottom right corner. I don’t like using them because you have to actually click on them to see your apps due to the tiny icons displayed inside the folder icon. My solution for that problem is a combination of 3 apps: Iconoclasm, Shrink and Infiniboard.

Iconoclasm ($3.00) allows you to change your icon layout. You can choose from various layout shapes, but I like using 5 x 5 so I can get as many icons as possible on the screen at once.

Another app I use to maximize my screen real estate is Shrink ($1.49). You can probably guess what it does just by looking at the image above…. it lets you shrink the size of your icons.

Added to those 2 apps is Infiniboard ($.99), which allows you to add as many icons as you want to each screen and scroll vertically. So now, instead of creating folders of icons, I just put all the related apps on one page and scroll up and down through them. Then I scroll horizontally to go to the next page.

Right now I’m very happy with the way I have my phone setup. What are some of your favorite apps for jailbroken devices?

Filed in categories: Articles, iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: gadget diary, iOS, Jailbreak

Julie’s Gadget Diary 03-22-12 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 22, 2012 at 8:58 pm.

How do you use your Android tablet? How are your screens set out? Is it just a bunch of apps ? This article is supposed to be in the vein of my Thinkpad Tablet review, a “how it works for me” rather than any sort of technical discussion. ( And you’ll note that I haven’t even mentioned iOS, I didn’t want this to turn into a “religious debate” ) Read on after the jump………

If you read reviews about Android devices, it’s all about single applications like the newest People contacts manager or the new Browser, it really doesn’t give you any sort of real life usage or what can be done with third-party apps. That’s hopefully the purpose of this article For me the most useful feature of Android is the ability to display information from apps with widgets.

Note if you click on the pictures you’ll get bigger images.

I guess this is how many users have their Android devices, just a screen of apps.  On my device I’m running ADW Launcher Ex which allows me to do things like set the number of screens, set the number of columns and rows on the screen in both portrait and landscape, and various other tweeks.  These items could also be shortcuts or folders. The bottom tray allows me to put my most used applications down there, and the tray is persistent across all screens, though there are settings to autohide it or hide it by gesture. This is only one of a multitude of third party launchers available for Android. In the bottom left is a widget.  The one shown above is the Australia TV Droid, which shows each Australian TV Channel, what’s on, and what’s on next.  I can actually swipe it and “carousel” through the rest of the channels, and if I press on the widget it will open the full program. All pretty cool as I don’t have to actually open the full app to see what’s on .

The above screen is what makes my tablet a useful day by day tool both for work and personal.  It’s basically a dashboard of all my “important” information at one single glance. It’s intention is to turn my unorganised life ( just ask my wife ) into a more organised life.

Using widgets, I’ve got instant access to:

• Current Australian Weather from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology
• My primary GMail inbox
• My Calender from my work Exchange Account
• My current Juice Defender status (a battery power saver that does things like schedules WiFi/3G every 15 minutes to check for activity rather than having it on all the time)
• My work Exchange inbox
• An Airplane mode toggle
• A WiFi mode toggle
• Two Astrid Task widgets, one for my personal to-dos and one for my work ones.

Clicking on the widgets will open the full app, and of course I  still have access to my most used apps in the drawer.

Because of the high level of customisation available in Android, I doubt you’ll find any 2 Android users who have exactly the same home screens.  It’s exactly why I love my Android tablet, the ability to customise and the use of widgets. I can easily add more widgets, apps, or shortcuts to the screen or resize or remove any of them. I can also have multiple screens of maybe a work-related one and a personal one. If I don’t like the way the launcher works, I can even change that.

So what’s on your Android screens? Work or personal?  What are your favourite widgets and applications?

Filed in categories: Android related, Articles

Tagged: Android app, Android tablet

Why I Love My Android Tablet – Widgets originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 2, 2012 at 9:00 am.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been having a bad case of RGS (Restless Gadget Syndrome) lately. I’ve been bored with my iPhone 4S for a few weeks now, so this morning I switched back to my Motorola Droid X. Yes, I know it’s an “old” phone, but it’s the only Android phone that I own at the moment. Why did I switch back? I found myself missing desktop widgets for the calendar among other things. Being bored with your phone is mild though compared to being bored with a “gadget” that is way more expensive… like your car. Yes, I am having new car lust too…

I’ve wanted a Jeep Wrangler or even a Cherokee (older models with the square body style) for as long as I can remember. I’d love to pull the trigger and get one, but I’d be taking a big hit on gas mileage. None of the other crossovers and smaller SUVs that are currently on the market appeal to me at all. I don’t like the way they all look the same and have rounded body styles. Bleh. A Jeep Wrangler with a hard top would be my dream vehicle (at least it’s what I’m dreaming of right now)… sniff.

My friend Rob Healy brought his brand new fully loaded 2012 Ford Edge for me to see yesterday. That’s me sitting in the driver’s seat in the picture above wearing the SCOTTEVEST Chloe Hoodie. Varooom! I probably wouldn’t pick this vehicle for myself because it’s bigger than what I need. But sitting in it fueled my already burning desire for a new car. It’s not like I really need a new car though. My 2006 Mazda 3 hatchback is perfectly fine. It’s just the RGS talking.

So here’s how I hope to “cure” my problem without spending over $20,000. I’m going to go shopping for a new stereo for my Mazda. That’s been my biggest complaint about this car other than the weak A/C. The radio has always had a problem keeping the time for the clock. I reset it and a few days/weeks/month later, I’ll notice that it’s 20 minutes fast or slow. The radio is also very generic. The only premium feature it has is a CD player and who buys CDs anymore? Not me. I think I want to get a double DIN stereo with all the bells and whistles. Anyone have any suggestions/advice? Think it will solve my RGS?

And no, I’m not really all that excited about next week’s announcement for the iPad 3 if it’s just going to be a bit faster and have a better display. Am I the only one who wants more? Or maybe I’m always wanting too much.

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: gadget diary

Julie’s Gadget Diary 03-01-12 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 1, 2012 at 2:16 pm.

Did you just take advantage of the free 50GB Android account mentioned in my previous post? Did you already have a box account from the iOS or Sony Ericsson promo? Or do you just already have a Box account?

I’ve got to admit, the web interface on the desktop is pretty clunky. There’s no way to drop and drag folders into your account, so if you want to do that you have to recreate folders and subfolders on your Box account and copy files in at a file level – a slow, laborious, and time-consuming exercise.  Below, I’ll outline the procedures for setting up your Box account as a network drive with Windows 7 or a Mac. I assume that you can do it with Linux as well Instructions and screenshots after the jump…

Open up Windows Explorer and click on “Map Network Drive”

Click on “Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures”

Enter “https://www.box.com/dav/”

Enter your Box.com login details.

Name your Network Location

Click Finish

Voila ! Your Box account now appears in your Explorer Windows under Computer ( see LHS ).

I don’t have a Mac so can’t give you screen shots but the procedure is:

• Open Finder
• Click on Go->Connect to Server
• Enter https://www.box.net/dav/
• Click on Connect
• Provide your Box.com login details
• Finished

You can now drag-and-drop files or folders directly into your Box account without having to worry about the file structure.  By recreating this network drive on multiple computers, you can share the account, and therefore files, between them easily without having to go through the web interface.  Note however that the copy process is pretty slow.  It just took me around 6 minutes to copy the 1.42MB of files shown above.

Hope this helps someone out there. Enjoy !

Filed in categories: Articles, Miscellaneous

Tagged: Cloud, How-To

How to Use your Box Account as a Network Drive originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 27, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

I have been on a quest to find the best tool to chronicle the events of my life. This quest has led me to look for the answer to the question of which is the better journal keeping method, pen and paper or an electronic gadget? Analog or digital? Or maybe a combination of both? Part one of my article looked at traditional journal keeping (analog). This second part is going to focus on digital methods.

When we think about keeping a digital journal, we might not think that there are that many tools for this method other than a dedicated diary application on a computer, smartphone or tablet. But if you use your imagination, there are other ways to keep a digital diary like using a Livescribe pen, Facebook and Twitter posts, generic text files and even Gmail.

To research digital journal keeping, I asked myself what kind of features I wanted.  Here is the short list I created:

Digital Journal Must Have Features

Must be able to add text via a keyboard – There are many journal and note keeping apps in the iOS and Android app stores that are stylus based. For me, they feel awkward to use because I’m a lefty and even with a palm rejection feature, I have troubles using them.

Must be able to include images – I like the old saying “a picture is worth a 1000 words”. I want the ability to add images to my diary entries because I’m a visual person and they can help me relive a memory sometimes much better than words.

Must be able to export entries for backup purposes – I don’t think I need to explain this one. The thought of having years of journal entries on a computer with no means of backing them up sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

Must have longevity – By longevity, I mean that I don’t want to make the mistake of choosing an application to keep my journal only for the application to become unsupported or the format to become unreadable by future gadgets.

Ability to add handwritten text or drawings with a stylus – Although I don’t want to the stylus to be the primary input method, I’d like the choice of using one if I desire.

Ability to sync entries between multiple devices like an iPhone and iPad – Being able to add a new journal entry or read / edit an existing one on multiple devices is a feature I’d love to have.

I realize that these features are important to me personally, but might not be important to everyone.

Keeping a Journal on an iPhone or iPad

It would take forever to review all the journal apps in the app store. So I just picked a few to get a feel for what’s out there. I’m leaving Android out of this article  mainly due to the fact that my only Android device at the moment is an Amazon Kindle Fire. The number of journal apps in the Amazon market is pretty limited. I will have to revisit Android options if/when I get a full blown tablet at some point.

Chronicle

Slide to Rock
iTunes Link

$2.99 for iPad version, $1.99 for iPhone version.

This is one of the first diary apps that I found when I was searching for apps that would allow me to include images along with text.

Chronicle is very easy to use and allows you to easily insert pictures that can be resized, rotated and even tilted. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the images can’t be locked down, so they can accidentally be moved when you’re flipping through pages reading your entries.

I tested the iPad version, but there’s also an iPhone version. Unfortunately, the application is not universal, which means that you have to buy it for both devices if you want to use it on both. There is also no automatic syncing between the devices, although you can export entries from one device and import into the other. Not exactly convenient. Although I like the simple interface, the lack of a universal app quickly made me look elsewhere.

PhatPad

Phatware Corp
iTunes Link

$4.99 for iPad version. There isn’t an iPhone version.

PhatPad is an extremely powerful and feature rich note taking application. Except for the fact that there isn’t a version for the iPhone, it ticks off almost all the boxes of my needs and wants list. You can write with a stylus, type with a keyboard and even convert handwritten words to text. Text and handwritten notes can even exist on the same page.

Images from your photo stream can also be added to entries as well as a variety of clipart that is included with the application.

PhatPad has several ways to backup your entries, including printing, emailing, exporting to PDF, Google Docs and Evernote. Exporting to Google Docs will create a document called Document 1.pdf. There’s no way I’ve found to name the entries to anything other than Document #.pdf.

With Evernote, the entry is also saved as a PDF file, which you have to click on to actually view.

Although PhatPad can do pretty much everything I want and need, I just can’t get enthused about using it. During this experiment I’ve found that writing entries by hand with a stylus on the iPad’s display is not very enjoyable. My handwriting is 10x sloppier than on paper and making corrections to handwritten notes is not all that easy. Typing entries into PhatPad is much easier and faster, but the lack of an iPhone version was a deal breaker for me.

Wonderful Days

HandyPadSoft
iTunes Link

$2.99 iPhone version. There isn’t an iPad specific version.

Wonderful Days is my current favorite journalling app on the iPhone/iPad. It has a friendly interface that is both easy and fun to use.

Each entry can have its own theme (background) and font. Pictures can be added along with weather and mood stamps.

You can view your entry in a list view like you see above on the Left.

Or as thumbnails. You can also have it show on a map where the entry was recorded.

One of my favorite features of Wonderful Days is that it will sync with Evernote.

The best thing about Evernote syncing is that it syncs BOTH ways. If you pay attention to the date format that it uses to name your entries, you can create new ones using that format and sync back to the app. That means that you can write your diary entries on your computer (and even attach images) and then sync them to your iPhone. I also like that the entries in Evernote can be easily viewed. You don’t have to open a PDF file. They show up just like you see above. What makes this very powerful for me is that I can take pictures of my paper journal entries and save them to Evernote so that I have a back up and I can have access to them on my iPhone.

The only features that Wonderful Days lack to make it perfect is the ability to write entries with a stylus and an iPad (full screen) version. Other than that, it’s my current go-to journal app on my iPhone.

Other Digital Journaling Methods

Besides dedicated applications for your smartphone and tablet, there are other ways to keep a digital journal.

Livescribe

Starts at $99.95

The Livescribe Pen combines analog and digital features. It’s a physical ballpoint pen that records audio as you’re writing on special dotted paper. You can then jump to a specific spot in the audio by tapping on the written words. It’s been awhile since I’ve used a Livescribe. It’s a neat gadget that is very useful for students who record lectures. I’m not sure it makes the best journal / diary method although your written notes are digitized and can be saved, viewed and searched on your computer.

I love the idea of the Livescribe, but the fact that you have to use special paper with it and special computer applications, make me worry about the longevity of the platform.

Facebook and Twitter

Using popular social media sites like Facebook or Twitter might sound like a strange way to keep a diary, but if you think about it, they have some definite benefits. You can access them from almost any computer, smartphone or tablet. The entries are automatically date and time stamped and backed up on a server out there in the cloud. There are even 3rd party services like Fonicle and Twournal that will take your entries and use them to print a physical book.

Gmail

You’re probably wondering how an email client could be used to keep a journal. Well, like Twitter and Facebook, entries stored in Gmail can be accessed from any connected computer, smartphone or tablet. You can start an entry on your iPhone and finish it later on your laptop. Images and other files can be attached to entries and you can even write an ink entry with your stylus when using Gmail apps for iOS and Android.

It’s easy to keep your diary entries organized. Just compose an email to yourself, then assign it a label like Journal/2012/Feb20 and archive it. Simple. Since it’s Gmail, it’s doubtful that the format will go extinct.

Is my quest over?

Yes it is. After trying various journal applications on my iPhone and iPad, I found that I prefer good old fashioned paper and pen. There’s something exciting about taking the wrapper off a brand new blank Moleskine or Rhodia notebook and writing my name inside the cover. I like taping pictures and things to the pages where it almost ends up becoming a scrapbook. Typing or writing entries on my iPad/iPhone just doesn’t feel the same.

So there you have it, for me, it’s analog journal keeping that works best.

Please share your comments on this topic. Are you also an analog journaler, or is it digital for you?

Filed in categories: Articles, Miscellaneous

Tagged: Gear Diary, Journal

Digital Journaling Methods originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 20, 2012 at 8:59 pm.

Over the years I have reviewed many SureFire products. Most people agree SureFire products are extremely well made with rock-solid performance (aka the Cadillac of flashlights).  But an overarching comment/theme from readers has been they can buy an (nearly) equivalent device for (much) less money. Nine times out of ten, that is a true enough statement. Although, I would argue that either way you go, you are getting what you pay for…..

I have, through sad circumstance, damaged several SureFire products over this past year. I initially mentioned my experience with SureFire’s stellar warranty in my Pen III review, where I bent its stainless steel clip and had to send it back to have it repaired. ‘… I called SureFire and asked them what it would take to get it repaired. Without hesitation the operator said they would repair it under warranty. He gave me a RMA number and off it went to be fixed. Approximately three weeks later, I received the pen back good as new’.

As the story goes, this past January the Seattle area experienced a massive ice storm that left 300,000 people without power (very unusual weather for the Pacific Northwest). Unfortunately my family and I were without power for nearly eight days. During this time we put some serious hardcore use/mileage on my flashlights. Well, sadly my SureFire Titan flashlight fell out of my pocket and was submerged for a significant amount of time. When I finally found the flashlight, it had water/moisture damage and no longer worked correctly (did not turn off fully). Being my favorite ‘carry around, all-purpose’ flashlight, I was bummed. I attempted to dry the Titan out with the rice in a bag trick but that failed to get the moisture out of the LED assembly.

Well once again, I called SureFire and explained the situation (the operator did not know I was a writer/reviewer). Living up to their No-Hassle Warranty, the operator gave me a RMA number and said they would repair the flashlight. A couple weeks later, my SureFure flashlight was returned to me good as new. So, my point is that a majority of the time you get what you pay for….SureFire products are expensive but without a doubt; they last the test of time and when something happens SureFire does not even blink when it comes to making things right.

Filed in categories: Articles, Miscellaneous

Tagged: Flashlight

SureFire Warranty Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 19, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

A friend and I were discussing/debating our top five favorite science fiction shows of all time. He regularly reads The Gadgeteer and suggested I post my fave-five and solicit our reader’s lists/opinions as well. So below are my top five with a short blurb as to why they are on the list.

1. StarGate (SG-1): To boldly go, without the need of a ship or long travel times. To see other worlds in a blink of an eye. The cast, writers, storyline, and special effects were overall top-notch.
2. Farscape: I grant you this was a pretty surreal show and storyline, but the actors were good and over the top when needed. You know some shows do not have to make sense all the time to like/enjoy them. What I remember most about Farscape, is that it was a HUGE shame the network did not give them enough notice to shutdown/close the storyline properly.
3. Star Trek (TNG): The Star Trek universe brought SciFi to primetime. But in the beginning, the original series was limited by special effect technologies, budgets, and the general public’s viewing habits. But Star Trek The Next Generation was a great follow up for the original series and lead-in for a multitude of other very enjoyable (albeit some better than others) series and movies.
4. Dr. Who (modern day): This longstanding storyline is fun and silly in many ways. The overall low budget special effects are pretty funny in and of themselves, where the audience has to ‘just go with it’.
5. X-Files: This show was at the forefront of prime-time, modern-day SciFi. Mulder and Sculley were a great pair, and many shows today attempt to emulate their dynamic. The conspiracy, aliens, and ‘trust no one/truth is out there’ overarching storylines were great at tying the decade long series together.

That is my list and a few of my thoughts. So….what say you all???

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Science fiction

My Top 5 SciFi Shows of All-Time originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 16, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

A few weeks ago, I and a good friend had the opportunity to test drive Lexus’ new 2013 GS sport sedan on the Las Vegas Speedway. In celebration of their very first Super Bowl commercial, Lexus flew us and approximately 40 others tech folks from around the country to Sin City to interact with their auto experts, test drive the GS, play with its fancy new high tech cockpit, ride in the LFA, and wrap up the weekend watching the Super Bowl/commercial.

This write up will be part trip report and part review of the GS sedan itself. Fortunately Lexus not only flew me to Vegas but a good friend of mine as well. It just so happens, my friend, Troy, is a through and through car guy. He reads/studies about them, builds them, races them, etc. While I appreciate a fine vehicle, Troy can tell you in great detail about most cars on the road today. He will be guest writing with me on this review, providing a more gear-head perspective. My comments will be in normal text and Troy’s will be Blue italicized.

Thanks so much for inviting me Dave! What an awesome deal, to get in on the launch of the new GS. Coincidentally, I have been lightly shopping the previous generation Lexus GS450H as my wife and I look to replace her 13MPG daily driven SUV with something a little more responsible and luxurious. This opportunity was both fun and timely for me on a personal level.

Friday of Super Bowl weekend, we flew into Vegas and was met by Lance our very nice limo driver.

Lance proceeded to drive us to the Palazzo hotel where we were greeted by several Lexus reps who briefed us and got us dialed in for the rest of the weekends activities.

Friday night, all of the tech writers/bloggers had a meet and greet with the Lexus folks over dinner and drinks. All of us talking excitedly about the the next day out on the raceway.

The Driving Experience

The Lexus GS has been completely redesigned inside and out; a new, more extreme look, better handling and responsiveness, and a more powerful, fuel efficient engine/powertrain. The GS is available in Premium, Luxury or F SPORT packages with rear-wheel drive (RWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD) configurations.  The GS’s 3.5 liter aluminum V6 engine produces 306 horsepower and can go 0-60 in 5.7 secs (all of the GS specs can be found HERE).

This seems to be the current target for most major auto companies, a 300 hp V6, (and I would guess a 400 hp V8 to follow), better gas mileage than the previous model, 7 or 8 speed transmissions, and a significant up tick in the interior quality of materials. Lexus is right in the middle of this hunt if not leading the charge.

The thing that surprised me the most about the GS after seeing it in person is that I don’t hate how it looks. In preparation for this event I did a bit of research and picture hunting. Nothing I found really seemed to stand out and shout except for the pictures. I honestly was a bit put off by the new nose. My first impression after seeing pictures was to ask, “Who are they targeting?” Will a company executive want to buy a car that looks as if it has had its front bumper cover replaced with a piece from “Street Extreemz” or something of the sort? My surprise was that the aggressive look of the car in person is not as extreme as it is in the photos. The look is supposedly going to be the new face of Lexus and it just might stick. I am not sure how the pinched trapezoid would be adapted for use on a full up luxury sedan such as the LS, but on the sport/luxury GS it works.

The GS has four driving modes: Eco, Normal, Sport and Sport Plus.

• ‘In ECO mode, a calming blue light surrounds the gauge cluster while the throttle response and engine power output are moderated for increased fuel efficiency. The climate settings are also optimized by periodically switching to recirculation mode to reduce ventilation loss and even using the heated seat function for more efficient warming’.
• ‘Normal mode provides the optimal balance of fuel efficiency, engine performance and, on Luxury-equipped models, the degree of road feel’.
• ‘Sport S mode changes the gauge cluster lighting to a fiery red and alters the powertrain for faster gear changes and more dynamic throttle mapping’.
• (The available) ‘Sport S+ mode goes a step further by also tightening the suspension and increasing steering response. In both modes, the transmission’s shift points are automatically altered coming into and out of corners for sharper acceleration’.

By noon Saturday, we were all out on the racetrack getting briefed on the days activities. The days events included driving the 2013 GS on a timed autocross and road coarse, interacting with the PM responsible for the advanced technologies built into the cockpit, and ending the day with an insanely cool ride in the Lexus LFA. Lexus had many professional drivers available to us to ask questions, instruct us, and ensure our safety while putting the GS through its paces.

The first part of the afternoon was a competition between all the writers and their guests to see who could get the best time around the autocross track Lexus had setup for us. After the scenario and safety briefing, we all took turns pushing the GS to perform…squealing wheels, smoking brakes, sliding around turns, the whole nine yards. As a matter of fact, out of our entire group Troy came in first place in the competition by nearly a full second.

I got lucky on that one, but to give a little perspective here, my time was two full seconds slower than the best time posted by one of the instructors. Two seconds on a 33 second track is an eternity, definitely showing the difference between a pro and an amateur. 

While a ride in the LFA was an incredible once in a lifetime moment, driving the GS ‘like we stole it’ was honestly the best part of the weekend. I know both Troy and I pushed the sport sedan as far as our driving skills would allow. The GS took our abuse (of all 40 of us and the pro drivers) and was ready for more. We all had the chance to drive the various GS models on the autocross course as many times as we wished.

We were also given a chance to ride on the autocross course with pro driver, IMSA and SCCA champion Scott Pruett. Obviously a fun ride for all. The thing is, as I sat there hanging on for dear life during my 33 second ride, it occurred to me that Scott had been beating an apparently stock GS350 for over a half an hour with not one little hiccup from the car. Just consider it for a moment, a family sport sedan, street tires, automatic transmission, no apparent additional prep by Lexus, being beaten repeatedly as hard as possible by a professional race driver. Full throttle to maximum anti-skid braking, late apex trail braking, power sliding, one foot on the gas the other on the brake, driven harder than any owner will ever drive their luxury GS, and not one little complaint from the car. WOW!

Checkout Troy’s and Scott’s lap around the course, I believe many of you will be surprised/impressed just how hard Scott pushed the vehicle.

The group then took the GS out on a two mile course and was able to make it truly giddy up and go. Each of us road with a professional driver giving us instruction on how to safely get the most out of GS at speed while whipping it around sharp, hairpin turns.

Various models of the GS were provided during this portion of the event, from the base GS350 to the all wheel drive GS350X to the GS350 with F sport package and even a hybrid version was on hand to drive. There was not enough time to drive each different car individually; however, just the idea that Lexus would make each of these cars available to amateurs for some racetrack time suggests that they are confident in their product! I suppose it is noteworthy that all of the cars made it through the day unscathed!

The New Technology

Along with being a ‘drivers vehicle’, the GS is a tech-person’s car as well. Lexus has gone beyond just a fancy navigation system that can talk to your smartphone and added much greater functionality to the vehicles driving experience. The highlight of the new system is a 12.3-inch high-resolution split-screen multimedia display. It provides access to navigation, audio, climate controls and the new Lexus Enform system.

Within the Lexus Enform system, Lexus engineers have integrated multimedia/social ‘apps’ that include Pandora, Facebook, Bing, Yelp, etc. According to the experts we talked to, they are continuing to develop useful tools to assist the driver better manage a hectic life. As Lexus develops new applications and improves the user interface, the system is capable over-the-air updates to seamlessly and easily tweak or enhance how it operates.

The main interface with the system is a two button and joystick/mouse configuration. The control system is very well thought out and polished but does take a bit of getting use to. Some of the apps have the ability to be controlled by voice.

I really liked how the controller gave a little bump of feedback each time the cursor moved into a new menu area on the large screen. That tactile signal will hopefully help the average user manipulate the system more effectively while reducing time spent with eyes off of the road. For me that is the real question here, is it reasonable to expect drivers to be able to operate the infotainment system in a way that doesn’t put themselves or other drivers at risk. How far does this need to go and what are the possible consequences. We are probably all aware of the efforts to restrict handheld device use in our vehicles. Now the vehicles themselves will be the device. Does this make us any less distracted as drivers? Now our car will be able to Yelp, Bing, Pandora and Facebook just to name a few. To what end? Will this make us safer? Certainly we will be more connected and Lexus seems to think this is the next thing that consumers want.

Troy and I regularly discuss/debate the integration of tech into cars from a multitude of perspectives. But we both agree, the bottom line is…this is the way of the future. Case and point, I have several very nice, zippy, fun cars that I love to drive. But my BIGGEST wish is that when I get in them, my iPhone would seamlessly/wirelessly connect, allowing me/the car to take calls, stream Pandora, use Siri, etc. This desire may potentially be one of the single most driving reasons that I someday upgrade vehicles.

THE LFA Supercar

Lexus and Scott Pruett gave each of us a ride in the $375,000 LFA supercar you see pictured here. The 553 horse-powered car throws you back in your seat like a jet fighter leaping off the runway. It was a two dimensional roller coaster ride that was simply awesome. You can watch my ride in the car here and Troy’s here. We hit speeds in excess of 125 mph and went around the two mile track in what seemed like the blink of an eye. Literally everyone who went on the ride with Scott had a huge ‘cat ate the mouse’ grin on their face as they got out of the car .

The Super Bowl Commercial

On Sunday, all of us, tech writers/bloggers, guests and Lexus folks, met to watch the Super Bowl/Lexus commercial and further chat with each other about Saturdays fun and the game itself.

For those of you who did not watch the game, the Lexus commercial was aired at the end of the first quarter. To be honest, I should have not watched it online and waited for its actual premier….but that was my choice. It was a great first effort in the Super Bowl commercial arena (where many are flops). It definitely showed off the 2013 GS and hinted at the rest of Lexus’ redesigned lineup.

The newly redesigned 2013 Lexus GS sport sedan performs incredibly. Both Troy and I were impressed by its handling, ride, luxury interior, and sportiness. It was also great we could checkout/go hands on with its new high-tech Enform navigation and multimedia system. After our time with the GS, I know both Troy and I look forward to seeing how Lexus transforms the rest of its 2013 lineup with the new look, performance, and technology.

Filed in categories: Articles, Car Gear

Tagged: Lexus

The Lexus GS Super Bowl Event Trip Report originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 12, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

A few weeks ago I posted a review of Zevia Stevia sweetened soda where I told everyone about my quest to find a healthier replacement for Diet Coke. While I really enjoyed some of the Zevia flavors, the price was way too high for me to justify buying it on a regular basis, so it wasn’t a good solution for me. I’m happy to say that I’ve found one alternative that is cheaper and healthier than the Zevia.

By healthier I mean that it doesn’t include any artificial gunk like Aspartame or Splenda. I’m still using Stevia as my sweetener of choice, but this time I’m using real Stevia instead of Erythritol like Zevia uses.

I’ve purchased several 2 oz. bottles of SweetLeaf and NuNaturals brand flavored Stevia drops, which I mix with Seltzer water. SweetLeaf offers a variety of flavors such as Orange, Grape, Berry, Rootbeer, Chocolate, Chocolate Raspberry, Lemon, Peppermint, Apricot and others. NuNaturals has a great Vanilla flavor that I like. The best place to purchase the Stevia drops that I’ve found so far is iHerb, which offers most of the flavors for less than $10 a bottle. That’s a great savings over Amazon and other places that sell them for about $15 a bottle. 2 ounces might not sound like a lot, but these drops really go a long way. You only need a dropper full for a large 16 oz drink.

For the seltzer part of the recipe, I just buy whatever is the cheapest at Walmart. The brand pictured above is about 98 cents for 1 liter. Another brand I buy is Vintage, which is only about 64 cents a liter. All I do is put it in the refrigerator over night to get it really cold and then I pour some in a glass, add a few drops of one of the Stevia flavors, stir with a straw and add ice. The seltzer water is just carbonated water with nothing else added, but it gives the drink the soda “bite” that I crave. I also tried seltzer with lemon and lime, and club soda, but found I like regular plain seltzer best for the drinks I make.

So far my favorite is the NuNaturals Vanilla drops. Mixed with the seltzer water, it makes a great creme soda. I could drink it all day. My next favorite is the Berry flavor. I even tried SweetLeaf’s Chocolate drops in seltzer water. Not bad, but I think I’ll save that flavor for adding to milk.

This solution works great for home, but I still need a solution for work. I don’t have access to a refrigerator there, so I don’t have a way to keep a 1 liter bottle of seltzer cold. I could bring warm bottles of seltzer to work and just walk down to the cafeteria for ice, but the cafeteria isn’t open all day. One possible solution that I’m thinking of trying is the Fizz Giz. It’s a small handheld soda maker that uses 16-gram food grade CO₂ cartridges and can carbonate any liquid in many existing soda bottles (except for Coca Cola products). Think of it as a SodaStream, only infinitely more portable and less expensive. You just add your own beverage to the bottle, screw on the special Fizz Giz cap and carbonate. I’m going to order one to try, so if anyone is interested in how it works out, let me know.

Anyone else out there making their own fizzy drinks and have some good recipes? Please share them!

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: gadget diary

Julie’s Gadget Diary 02-11-12 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 11, 2012 at 6:16 pm.

In my article Amazon Kindle 3G-The Perfect Travel Companion, I talked about how useful I found my 3G Kindle while travelling overseas.  One of the comments left on that article pointed to a blog that said that Vietnam was one of the only places that the author couldn’t get any 3G signal.  This confused the heck out of me, as I had full coverage (and also full web access) from North to South for the 3 weeks I was over there. What was going on?

US Kindle 3 3G Coverage

I went to Amazon.com to look at the 3G coverage map. Huh? No 3G coverage in Vietnam? Had I slurped back too much Pho, or had the sun addled my brain, or was it just like an episode of Dallas and it was all a dream?

Then I remembered there’s actually two versions of the 3G Kindle , a US one that is only available in the US and uses an ATT sim card and also an International model that uses a Vodafone sim card.  Now, Australia being NOT being part of the US meant I had an international model. So I went to Amazon.co.uk and check the Vodaphone 3G coverage map there.

Intl Kindle 3 3G Coverage

So you can see while the US (ATT) Kindle 3 offers ZERO 3G coverage in Vietnam, the International version (Voda) gives almost full 3G coverage. The same applies for Cambodia.

US Kindle 3 3G Coverage

Intl Kindle 3 3G Coverage

Tasmania US v Intl 3G Coverage

For interest sake I then had a look at Australian coverage.  I live in Tasmania, that little island just underneath Victoria, but couldn’t get my screenshot to include in the map above, so I added separately. (We hate being left off the map of Australia ).  You can see  that there’s dramatically different coverage between the International and the US Kindle 3 3G . Looking at the maps above, in reality I’d be much better off with a US Kindle 3 3G than the International model. Vodafone has notoriously bad coverage in Australia and I can tell from the ATT coverage that they’re partnering on the Telstra 3G network. It’s a bit ironic that a US Kindle would give me better coverage than an “International” version.  But of course if I had a US model, I’d have NO coverage while in Vietnam.

A quick comparison of the maps shows some obvious areas where coverage is different, Morocco (I), Namibia(I), Ghana(I), Belarus(I), Malawi(I),Ecuador(U), Tanzania(U) and Bolivia(U) amongst others, and the degree of difference in coverage varies.

I’m guessing that this “anomoly”  has to do with the partners that the respective Telcos have in the different countries. The long and short, if you’re intending to use your Kindle while travelling, it’s worth checking out if the US or International will give you the best coverage in the countries that you’re going to visit. Be aware though that it’s not possible to get a US Kindle 3G directly from Amazon internationally and conversely an International Kindle 3G in the US, but there are ways of doing it.

Happy travelling

Filed in categories: Articles, eBook Readers and Gear, Travel Gear

Tagged: 3G, Kindle, Travel gear

Amazon Kindle 3 3G International Coverage – US vs International model originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 3, 2012 at 11:00 am.

I love my Kindle, and I love the Amazon ecosystem for the purchase and reading of novels but did you know that  you can extend  the functionality of your Kindle way beyond that?

The Kindles supports more than just Amazon’s .AZW book format (basically a .MOBI with Digital Rights Management-DRM).  From the web site the Kindle supports:  Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.

So maps, pictures, articles and other useful stuff can be loaded onto your Kindle. Amazon promotes this and gives you up to 5GB for storage of personal documents. Anything archived here can be downloaded to supported devices or applications just like your Amazon books. When I’m travelling I like to keep copies of important documents like itineraries,travel insurance documents and medical documents on my Kindle.  That way they’re always with me and won’t get crumpled, lost or wet .

This is a short article to quickly cover the most common ways of getting your own documents onto your Amazon Kindle (note: I am not going to discuss DRM)

Please click on any of the pictures to enlarge the screenshots.

Direct File System

By plugging your Kindle into your PC or Mac, you can get access to the Kindle as an additional drive. This way you can just drag and drop supported files onto your Kindle.

Documents can be placed directly into the root of the document directory or can put into subdirectories. Similarly, audio files can be manually placed into the music directory or audible books into the audible directory.  Note that putting them into sub-directories does not put them into collections.

Useful if you’ve got you Kindle handy and just want the native file put onto your Kindle or if you have multiple documents to transfer. Just as a side point in the example above you’ll see two files with the same name but a different extension.  The .AZW is the ebook itself and the .MBP is your “progress” file for that ebook.

Advantages:

• No Wifi required
• Fast transfer
• Can transfer music and audible books

Disadvantages:

• Need PC/Mac and micro-USB cable and Kindle
• No conversion available
• Not archived in your Amazon Personal Documents storage

Personal Documents  Kindle Email

Amazon supplies you with two email address that allow you to send documents to your Kindle.

@kindle.com – your personal document will be received via either wifi or 3g. Sending via 3g on the Whispernet is chargeable, so you need to be careful how you connect by default ( as I found out from borrowing a friends Kindle 2 to test to see if I liked the Kindle and managed to rack up a $60 bill )

@free.kindle.com – will only send via wifi. Even if the 3g is your default connection it’s only the next time you connect via wifi  that the document will be downloaded (for free).

Where this is additionally useful is if you have multiple users and devices on a single account. In my example above I can send a personal document to one, two or all three of the Kindles attached to my account just by adding their email address. For security you nominate what email addresses are allowed to send documents to your Kindle addresses otherwise I’m sure by now Kindle spam would be a reality

If you send a document and put “Convert” in the subject line of the email, then Amazon will attempt to convert from your format to AZW format.  By converting to .AZW, you can then manipulate like a normal book: change font size and typeface, spacing, style, etc. The accuracy of the converstion depends on format and layout of the source document. You will receive an email when your document is ready for delivery and also a notification on your Kindle when the document is available.

Advantages:

• Does not require Kindle
• Can be initiated from multiple platforms as long as you have an email client
• Can be sent to individual user for multiple user accounts
• Can do conversions to .azw
• Archived in your Amazon Personal Documents Storage
• Can retrieve over 3g

Disadvantages:

• Author becomes email address.
• Can incur Whispernet charges inadvertently
• Document must be less than 50MB
• Email must have less than 25 documents
• Email must go to less than 15 recipients

Amazon Send to Kindle application

Amazon recently released their Send to Kindle app for PC.  Once installed, you then have two ways of sending documents to your Kindle.  You can either right click on a document in Windows Explorer and choose Send to Kindle, or you can use the Print function in almost any Windows application to convert your source to a PDF. You can choose whether to send it via Wifi or Whispernet. You can select whether to archive your document or not. Again receiving a document may incur a 3g Whispernet fee.

Advantages:

• Does not require Kindle
• You can rename the title and author
• Any source can be converted to PDF via Print option
• You get the option to archive in your Amazon Documents Archive
• Can retrieve over 3g

Calibre

Calibre is more than just a means to be able to send documents to your Kindle, it’s a complete e-book manager.  I’m not going to review the full functionality of Calibre here as that’s a subject by itself.  Calibre can be used to convert from pretty much any e-book format to another.  If you click on the picture above you’ll see that I’ve got two documents in my library.  By plugging your Kindle in, you can see that the green tick next to “Locked On” means that that document is already on my Kindle.  By highlighting a document and hitting “Send to Kindle” you can transfer documents from your library to your Kindle.  If you have a lot of documents you can easily see what is and isn’t already loaded on your Kindle.

Advantages:

• Fully featured ebook/document management (and more)
• Support for Windows, OSX, Linux and a portable (thumbdrive) version
• Multiple conversion options
• You can rename/modify any information about the document

Disadvantages:

• Not archived in your Amazon personal documents
• Need PC/Mac, micro-USB cable and Kindle

So there’s multiple ways to get personal documents onto your Kindle, each with it’s own advantages and disadvantages both in terms of procedure, operation and complexity.  One of the big differentiators is if you need the document to be saved into Amazon’s Personal Document storage either for sharing, archiving or for on/off-line access. Personally I use a mixture of all the methods mentioned above depending on my circumstances of what sort of document I need to send, what source format it’s in, what destination format I want it in, where I am and what sort of  ”resources” are available to me. One other thing to keep in mind is that if you don’t have a security code on your Kindle then if you lose it or it’s stolen then anyone can access your personal documents so be careful what you do put on

Filed in categories: Articles, eBook Readers and Gear

Tagged: Kindle

How To: Getting Personal Documents on Your Kindle originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 19, 2012 at 11:00 am.

It’s the beginning of a new year, which for a lot of people, means that it is time to start a new journal or diary. I’ve been wrestling with the decision of whether to stay traditional and keep my journal in a Moleskine, Rhodia or similar notebook, or go digital and use a diary app on my iPhone / iPad. Both formats have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Is one way to better than the other? In this two part article, I’m going to try to answer that question for myself and maybe for you too. Part one covers traditional journals.

My journaling background

I’ve been an on again off again diary keeper since I was a kid. Back in the 70′s and 80′s when I was growing up, the only way to keep a record of your thoughts, memories and events was by writing them down on paper. I had several anything books as we used to call them… blank unlined hardback books meant to hold “anything”. I also had a couple classic lock and key type diaries that offered one page for each day of the year. I was even into 3×5 inch index cards way before they were cool. I used to keep a metal index card box labeled “Julie’s Secret Files”. Yep, I was a dork even back then… Nothing has changed folks

Childhood diary entries

The sad thing is that I can currently only find one of my childhood journals. I know the others are around here somewhere (hopefully). I just don’t know where. I sat down with that one diary this past weekend and reading it from cover to cover gave me quite a few laughs. 90% of it was filled with entries talking about how big of a pain my younger sister was and all my attempts to find and read her diary. Come on, that was very important stuff to a 13yr old! But mixed in with that silly stuff were a few nuggets that triggered long lost memories. Reading it made me wish I would have continued to keep a journal all these years. I especially wish I would have kept a journal this past year to record my cancer adventure.

Sticking with it…

Why haven’t I been able to keep a journal over the years when I’ve tried countless times? Lots of lame reasons that tend to run in a continuous loop as an internal dialog in my head:

What I write is complete drivel, so why write it down?
My hand writing is messy and I make too mistakes.
I don’t have time to write today, I’ll do it tomorrow.
My doodles are crude and pointless.
I haven’t written in months, so why start again?

I now have answers and comments to those questions and statements that are helping me make journaling a habit that I will stick with.

Q: What I write is complete drivel, so why write it down?
A: Yes, it probably is, but who cares. It’s your drivel and mixed in with it, will be valuable memories that you’ll be able to enjoy later.

S: My hand writing is messy and I make too mistakes.
C: You’re not being graded on your penmanship, so who cares.

S: I don’t have time to write today, I’ll do it tomorrow.
C: That’s fine. You don’t have to write every day, or even every week or month. Write when you feel like it.

S: My doodles are crude and pointless.
C: You’re not being graded on your artistic abilities, so who cares.

Q: I haven’t written in months, so why start again?
A: Why not? Don’t feel like a failure when you don’t write for long periods. Think of it as a break so you can store up memories to write about later.

Once I flipped the switch in my brain that makes me want to write things down all the time, I encountered a new problem and the reason for this article… It’s my struggle to choose between keeping a traditional paper journal or keeping a journal on my iPad. Analog vs. digital? That’s the big question. Let’s consider the analog journal…

Going with paper and pen

Analog journals come in all manner of sizes, shapes and colors. I have to admit that I’m a sucker for Moleskine, Rhodia, and similar notebooks. There is something very romantic about writing your thoughts in a bound book. It’s as if those thoughts are more important just because they are inscribed in a physical book. As you can see from the image above, I have quite a collection of empty notebooks to choose from. The stack on the Left includes a Quo Vadis Habana journal, several blank and lined Moleskines, a San Francisco Moleskine travel journal and a Rhodia webbie. On the Right are a bunch of a Field Notes notebooks and Moleskine Cahiers and Volants. On the bottom of that stack is a Wreck This Journal book by Keri Smith. It’s a journal with all kinds of prompts that are designed to help you be more creative and not worry about screwing up your journal. I found it to be a cool concept, but it a little too juvenile for my taste.

My favorite notebook is currently the 3.5 x 5.5 inch unlined Rhodia Pocket webbie in Orange. I love the soft almost padded feel of the cover and that I can write and draw with markers without too much fear that they will bleed through the page. I do wish that the webbies had white instead of the cream color. I like Moleskine notebooks too and prefer the Sketchbook Pocket version for the thicker paper. Markers and some inks bleed through the regular Moleskine notebook paper too easily.

I am also more than a little obsessed with finding accessories for my notebooks. Notebook covers, pen holders, bookmarks, pens, pencils, you name it…

What do you write in your journal?

There are a million different types of journals. Art journals, gratitude journals, dream journals, trip journals, workout journals, food journals etc. I’m usually pretty traditional when it comes to what I write in mine. I don’t use it as an appointment or to-do book. It tends to be a dated entry with a synopsis of my day. I might include a drawing if the mood strikes and I sometimes tape or glue ticket stubs or other small paper items pertaining to the day’s events.

I recently purchased a Polaroid Pogo Mobile Printer for the sole purpose of making 2 x 3 inch prints to add to my journal entries. Although the print quality isn’t spectacular, it’s good enough for this task. The printer itself is less than $40 and doesn’t require any ink cartridges. The only consumables are the special photo paper that is required for it. They also offer photo paper with a peel and stick backing, which makes adding pictures to your journal very easy. I have some on order

The big downside for me is that this little Bluetooth printer isn’t compatible with the iPhone. Apparently you can get it to work if you’re willing to jailbreak your phone and load a special Bluetooth app. But, at the moment there isn’t a way to jailbreak an iPhone 4S. As soon as there is, I’ll be doing it just so I can use it to print pics to the Pogo. The Pogo does work just fine with my iMac and also worked great with a Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0 phone.

Finding inspiration

I love seeing pictures of other people’s journal entries and will sometimes go on Flickr and do a search on the word “journal”. It’s a cool way to find ideas for my own entries.

For example, if you want to be inspired, go check out The Hike Guy’s journals of his 1700 mile trek along the Pacific Crest Trail. They are fantastic and make me want to get a backpack and set off for an adventure in the woods right now. Or maybe when it’s warmer… and I have an RV… with a satellite link.

There are also many journal related sites that I love to visit. Here are a few:

Notebook Stories
Journaling Saves
Recording Thoughts

Privacy

Keeping a journal on paper means that someone will probably find and read it long after you are gone, if not sooner. Some people might consider this a terrifying possibility. It’s something I really don’t worry about. If someone wants to read one of my journals, it’s probably going to bore them silly very quickly.

For those of you that do worry about the uninvited sneaking a peek at your innermost thoughts, does that make digital journals more attractive since it is easier to secure / hide them?

Some advantages of keeping a paper journal:

• Electricity or a connection to the internet is not required to write an entry
• Dropping a journal on the floor will not break it or cause it to lose entries
• A Moleskine will never crash or need a firmware upgrade
• Paper journals allow much more freedom and customization than their digital equivalent
• They cost much less than a smartphone, tablet or computer

What are some other advantages that you find with paper journals vs. digital journals?

If we’re going to talk about advantages, we have to talk about the disadvantages too.

Some disadvantages of keeping an analog journal:

• It’s easier for someone to find and read your journal when it’s a physical object like a book
• There’s no spellcheck for a Moleskine
• If you write an entry with sloppy penmanship, you’ll have to live with it
• It’s difficult to find a specific entry in a journal
• You can’t easily backup an analog journal like you can a digital journal

I actually have one way to take care of the last two disadvantages on that list.

Using Evernote to back up your journal

If you haven’t heard of Evernote, it’s a free (there’s a premium version too) note taking, web clipping, archiving tool that you can use on your desktop or your iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices.

It makes a great analog journal backup tool and search tool. Just snap a picture of your journal page and upload it to your Evernote account. You can create an Evernote notebook to store all your journal images. You can then sync your Evernote notebooks between your desktop and your phone, which means you’ll have a copy of your analog journal on your digital device. Cool right? It gets even better though…

You can search for words in the images you’ve uploaded to Evernote. Just type a word in the search box and Evernote will give you a list of all the entries where that word shows up. Even your hand written words are searchable. I’m not just talking printed words – even cursive! That makes it super easy to find a specific entry. It doesn’t work 100% of the time as in it sometimes will show you words that don’t match your search criteria, but it works well enough to be a super useful tool. Evernote is also an excellent companion to one of my favorite iOS journal apps. But more about that in part 2 of this series where I’ll talk about digital journaling.

In the mean time, I’d love to hear from you about your journal preferences. What is your favorite brand of notebook? Do you include drawings? Do you add photos? Write in code so people can’t read it?

Filed in categories: Articles, Miscellaneous

Tagged: Gear Diary, Journal

Starting a New Journal – Which Format Do you Use, Digital or Analog? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 7, 2012 at 5:53 pm.

Disclaimer 1: Rooting can have a difference connotation down here in Australia and I’m not sure if it means the same thing in other countries. This article has nothing to do with the Aussie colloquial term  

I literally fell into being an Android fanboi. After a raft of Sharp data organisers, Palm devices and then Windows Mobile PDA and phones, I quickly needed to get a new phone. I don’t turn my phones over quickly, I’m not a “must have the latest” kinda person as long as the device is still doing the job (can I really call myself a Gadgeteer? ). My intention was a new Winmob phone ( V6.5  at the time)  but all the Winmob phones offered by my carrier were too big  (4.3″ screen) and because of that I ended up with an Android based Froyo HTC Desire (3.7″ screen) not because of  the Android but because of the size.  Like all good Gadgeteers from there my research began as Android was new to me at the time (does this redeem me?).  Well you can’t research Android without coming across rooting your device so I thought I’d put this quick article together about what exactly is rooting and why would you do it ?

Disclaimer 2: Rooting will generally void any manufacturer warranty and can potentially brick your device. If you are not comfortable with the procedure and not willing to take the risk then please do not attempt. 

The term rooting comes from the old Unix days where the Super User account (SU) had root access to all the files, i.e. access to the files from the root directory up, so basically administrator rights in Windows terms. On a standard Android device you’ll only have access to some files, which limits your control over a number of variables and functions. The procedure for rooting an Android device can be as easy as downloading and running an app on your device or may be be a multi-stepped process.  For all those Apple folks out there this is the equivalent of Jailbreaking your Apple device (or at least as close as a comparison as you can get when you talk Apple v Android ).

This article is not intended as a how-to tutorial but as a list of some of the advantages you can get from rooting your Android device.

Remove OEM Bloatware:

Many manufacturers and carriers will have customised ROMs on their devices. These often include applications that THEY think would be useful to you or are useful to them by say pushing traffic through them.  These applications may take up valuable storage space, or stay active in memory using up valuable resources.  The apps are normally written into the protected areas and can’t be uninstalled as they are system apps.   To the left is a picture of the typical bloatware found on an Australian Telstra Android phone ( in this case they’re actually only shortcuts ). Rooting gives you the ability to remove or freeze these.

Backup and Restore your Entire System:

Backup programs for non-rooted devices only have access to user accessible areas of apps and data.   Having root access will give you access to all areas on your device and allow you to make  ”bare metal” rebuild images.  Where is this useful ?  Let’s say a manufacturer ships out an Over The Air (OTA) system update to you that makes your device unusable. If you have a “bare metal” image then you can just go back to your last working version and not apply the system update until it’s stable.

Run Custom Roms:

Since the release of the Nexus G1, the Android ROM community has grown and grown and there’s a plethora of “cooks” out there baking custom ROMs for almost all Android Devices. Alternate ROMs can be anything from hacked OEM ROMs to ROMs built from the ground up.  These ROMs will typically incorporate things that will speed up your device and add functionality not found in the OEM ROMs.  Of course the ability to backup and restore your entire system means that you can easily try different ROMs and easily go back to the one you like the best or even go back to the OEM one if that’s the one you prefer. Cyanogen is probably one of the popular alternate ROMs out there, in fact the founder of Cyanogen was employed by Samsung based on this project. The most active alternative ROM site is XDA-Developers where you can find multiple ROM options for the more commonly available devices.

More screen real estate:

With smaller-screen devices you are constrained to the standard screen estate given to you by the manufacturer.  Especially on the 7″ tablets (which kind of straddles the phone/tablet size), the icons are normally too big which leads to excessive scrolling to find that app you want. By changing the LCD density, you can get more real estate on the screen.  Conversely as you get a bit older you might want to make those icons bigger

Speed and Battery:

Many developers will tweak the kernel to dramatically improve performance .  Processors can be overclocked or underclocked and unnecessary processes can be eliminated. These changes result in better performance and better battery life.

Keep up to date with versions:

Most manufacturers are notorious for developing a product, releasing it and then dropping all support after the next model’s released.  By using customised ROMs you can update to the latest version of Android OS before they are officially released (if it ever is) . Especially useful if you have an older device that isn’t supported by the manufacturer but is by the development community.

More memory:

Root will allow you to move and manipulate the partitions where system and data resides.  Manufacturers will set the partition limits to best suit them at time of manufacture. You can push some functions and applications to the external card storage of your device.  Older phones were notorious for running out of memory after you’d installed a number of  apps. While later versions of Android did this automatically, root gives you complete control. Rooting will also allow you to freeze unnecessary processes.

Take screen shots: 

Everyone likes to show off their artistic abilities by showing off their home screens or show off their high score in Angry Birds .  While some manufacturers do give you the ability to take screen shots, most don’t.  Want to post an error on your screen or similar ?  Screen shots can be useful.

Change boot screens:  

Don’t like the boot animation that comes up when you turn your phone on (often almost an advertisement)? Root will allow you to change and personalise even down to this level.

Filed in categories: Android related, Articles

Tagged: Android, rooting

Rooting your Android device…advantages? (…it’s not a bad thing) originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 6, 2012 at 9:00 am.

In a few hours, 2011 will become a memory as we say hello to a brand new year. We posted over 400 reviews this year on topics that ranged from apps to flashlights and smartphones to wrist watches. Let’s take a look at the 25 most viewed reviews on The Gadgeteer in the past year. Will the #1 review be from this year or will it be an older product from years ago? Let’s start with review #25 and find out.

25. DAGi Stylus for iPad by Jackie Cheng (September, 2010)

The 25th most read review of 2011 is a capacitive stylus review from the previous year. This particular stylus has a unique tip that sets it apart from the many styli on the market. I’m still trying to find the perfect stylus. Have you found yours?

24. Motorola Extended Battery for Droid X by Julie Strietelmeier (February, 2011)

The Motorola Droid X is the smartphone I used for almost a year before switching back to the iPhone. This extended battery was a must have upgrade from the standard battery.

23. Sony Reader Wi-Fi (PRS-T1) eBook Reader by Janet Cloninger (October, 2011)

Janet (AKA Queen of eBook Readers) shows up in this list with 2 Sony eReader reviews. People love her reviews because she knows all their ins and outs.

22. Motorola XOOM Android Tablet by Julie Strietelmeier (February, 2011)

The Xoom was the first Honeycomb tablet that I had the chance to try. It was both impressive and disappointing all at the same time because it lacked some core features at launch (Flash support, SD card support, 4G support).

21. D-Link Boxee Box by Julie Strietelmeier (January, 2011)

I still use the Boxee Box on a regular basis to watch video on my big screen TV. I love the watch later feature that allows me to mark videos on my web browser to watch later though my Boxee Box hooked up to my 55″ TV in the living room. It would be my perfect streaming video device IF it could easily access Amazon Prime content. I keep the Roku XS around for that feature.

20. Roku XD|S Media Player by Dave Rees (February, 2011)

An earlier version of the Roku video streaming device.

19. ElementCase Vapor Pro case for iPhone 4 by Andy Simmons (March, 2011)

We reviewed several metal rail style “cases” for the iPhone 4/4S. This is the most popular one of 2011.

18. HTC ThunderBolt Android Smartphone by Julie Strietelmeier (March, 2011)

I only had a short visit with this Android phone, but really enjoyed it. It’s hard not to fall for HTC’s Sense interface.

17. Casio G-Shock GW9200-1 “Riseman” by Andy Chen (March, 2009)

This review was on last year’s list at #18, so it continues to be a popular one. We gadgeteers like our watches don’t we?

16. LED Lenser P7 LED Flashlight (8407) by Julie Strietelmeier (June, 2008)

This is one of those flashlights that feels like it would survive almost anything. I still use it occasionally.

15. Apple’s White iPhone 4 by Janet Cloninger (May, 2011)

It’s exactly like the Black iPhone 4 only it’s… White. Janet’s family drank a big pitcher of Apple koolaid and bought 3 iPhones this past Spring. I’m sure Steve Jobs is smiling down on her!

14. Aluratek Libre eBook Reader Pro by Julie Strietelmeier (February, 2010)

The Aluratek reader is not one of the upper echelon brands of eBook reading devices, but obviously still very popular among our readers.

13. netTALK DUO by Bill Kuch (September, 2010)

Devices like the netTALK were extremely popular this year with those of you that don’t feel the need to hang on to your analog phone service.

12. Sony PRS-650 Touch Edition eBook Reader by Janet Cloninger (September, 2010)

Another Sony review from Janet. I wonder when (if?) Sony will release a color device to compete with the Barnes and Noble Nook and Amazon Fire?

11. Motorola DROID Pro by Julie Strietelmeier (December, 2010)

This phone brought me back to the days of the Palm Treo. Am I the only one that misses physical buttons?

10. Citizen Eco-Drive Watch by Don Damiani (January, 1999)

I continue to be amazed at the fact that this 12yr old watch review still remains so popular. Last year it was #8, what will it be next year?

9. Apple iPad 2 by Janet Cloninger (March, 2011)

The iPad 2 is my favorite tablet of 2011. It still pulls me in better than any Android tablet I’ve tried and I keep wondering with the iPad 3 will bring us next year.

8. Logitech Revue™ With Google TV™ by Janet Cloninger (February, 2011)

Google TV didn’t take off like Google hoped it would.

7. Kill-A-Watt Electric Usage Monitor by Judie Lipsett (December, 2003)

Another review from days gone by.

6. VuPoint Magic Wand Scanner by Robin Cox (July, 2010)

I used to want one of these, but now I just take a picture of a page with my iPhone using the CamScanner+ app and it works perfectly.

5. Epad ZT-180 Android Tablet by Julie Strietelmeier (May, 2011)

I can’t understand why this review / tablet is so popular given that it has horrible battery life and a resistive display.

4. Apple iPhone 4 by Julie Strietelmeier (August, 2010)

Great phone, great camera. The only phone better is the 4S, which I’m using now.

3 . Pandigital Novel eBook Reader by Russ Coe (August, 2010)

Another inexpensive Android tablet.

2. Apple TV 2nd Gen by Janet Cloninger (July, 2011)

Apple’s $99 video streaming device that puts Netflix, Youtube and iTunes video on your HD TV. You can also use it to mirror video from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to your TV.

1. magicJack PLUS by Bill Kuch (July, 2011)

This year’s most read review, with over 135,000 views, is for a gadget that allows you to drop your old analog phone in the trash by using your broadband connection for local and long distance calling. It doesn’t surprise me that this is a very popular review since times are tight and finding cost cutting solutions is a high priority on people’s to do lists.

I guess this was the year of “cutting the cord” for a lot of people. Whether it was cutting the cord with your cable company by using an Apple TV, Roku or Boxee Box or cutting the cord with your phone company by using the NetTALK DUO or magicJack, these products demonstrate that people are always looking for ways to save money by using gadgets.

Many thanks for all the hard work that The Gadgeteer team put in to bring you these great reviews!

What was your favorite product of 2011? Is it on this list?

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged:

The Gadgeteer’s Top 25 Reviews of 2011 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 31, 2011 at 4:30 pm.

A few years ago, most of the people reading this article probably carried two devices with them every day in their pocket or bag: a mobile phone and a PDA. PDAs aka Personal Digital Assistants were the norm back then, while smartphones were still just a glimmer in eye of Steve Jobs and the Google whiz kids. These days no one wants two devices when they can carry one uber-nifty mega smartphone right? Maybe not.

Once a month or so, I’ll receive an email like this one:

Hi Julie,

I was wondering if you could give me some advice on a replacement for my Palm TX?  I’ve done quite a bit of research and found that no one except HP (IPAQ) is making PDAs any longer.  (And they are expensive.)

I could go to a different platform, but it seems that there isn’t anything handheld that enables you to enter data with a stylus and that functions primarily as a business organizer (focus on calendar, contacts, notes, and enables you to sync it with the computer.)  I don’t need a phone with more functions and I don’t want to have to pay a monthly data fee to use the device. I really like the simplicity of Palm devices.  It seems I am not alone.

Some people are turning to the iPod Touch, but I really like the “always on” feature of PDAs. Plus, I understand it is primarily an entertainment device as opposed to a business organizer.

Any thoughts.  I’ll need to sync with a Windows 7 PC.

Don

I know that Don isn’t alone because I live with someone that has no desire for a smartphone. She still uses a Palm Zire 31 which was released way back in 2004, the dark ages of mobile computing.

As I see it, people that want to continue using pocket sized PDAs, have 3 choices:

1. Continue using older PDA devices for as long as you can find / replace them

Most of the people that email me asking for PDA advice, always start out by saying that their Palm device is dying and what current device can they buy to replace it. Guess what? You can still find brand new boxed Palm PDAs for less than $50 on eBay. And if you don’t mind used devices, you can easily spend less than $25. Handspring Visors and Windows Pocket PCs can be found too. This is the most inexpensive solution and most likely the best one for people who are perfectly happy kicking it old school.

In addition to the basic PIM (Personal Information Management) apps that are built-in to each device, you can still download 3rd party productivity apps from sites like Handango and Freeware Palm.

The biggest problem I can see with these older devices is the fact that there is little to no support for them other than like minded users on various online forums. There’s also the issue that as we continue to update our desktop computers to newer OS versions, the ability to sync/backup our data on these devices will probably become impossible due to software incompatibility. That said, depending on the device, you can still find syncing software for Palm and Windows CE/Pocket PC devices on http://www.hpwebos.com/ and http://hp.com respectively.

2. Consider a WiFi enabled Android device

There are two ways to get a pocket sized Android device that can serve as a PDA. One way is to buy a WiFi enabled smartphone and only use the WiFi connection instead of the cellular connection. Just like with older Palm devices, older Android smartphones can be found at bargain prices. However, if you want something shiny and new, consider one of the Samsung Galaxy Player devices. They offer 4 and 5 inch models that are priced at $230 – $270. They have all the main features of current Android smartphones like WiFi, GPS, Camera, SD card expansion and Bluetooth, but without the need to pay for a monthly data plan. I took a quick look at the Galaxy Player 5.0 at my local Best Buy and was tempted to buy one just to do a review.

One of the best reasons to go with an Android device is the fact that you completely bypass the need to sync data with a desktop PC. All data syncing is done with Google (calendar, contacts, email) via WiFi to the cloud. And for those of you that are extra paranoid, there are third party apps that will back up your data to an SD card.

3. Another option is an iPod touch

Apple’s iPod touch is almost like having a thinner iPhone without the actual phone feature. Priced at $199 – $399 depending on the capacity, the touch has WiFi, Bluetooth, and front / rear facing cameras. What it doesn’t have is a flash card slot or a real GPS… but there is a mapping feature that uses proximity to known Wi-Fi networks to figure out your location. Definitely not very accurate though.

There are a bazillion productivity apps for the touch including some of the really popular ones that used to be available for the Pocket PC and Palm OS like Pocket Informant and iambic’s Agendus.

Like Android devices, you have the option not to connect the iPod touch to a desktop computer as the data will be stored in the cloud with iCloud. iCloud will also make sure that your data is the same across all your iOS devices which is cool. I like that I can take a picture with my iPhone and it will automatically show up on my iPad and iMac. You can even sync your Google data (calendar, email, contacts) with Apple’s built in apps.

Of course if you choose option #2 or #3, you’ll have to charge your device every 2-3 days unlike 2-3 weeks or longer with an older Palm device.

If it were me, I’d probably choose the iPod touch for a few different reasons. For one thing, it has more support from Apple in the way of OS updates than the Samsung Galaxy Player and other older Android devices. Apple tends to provide major OS updates through 2 generations of devices. So if you buy the current or last gen device, you can still run the latest and greatest version of the OS. This doesn’t seem to be the case with Android devices. There is also a huge variety of 3rd party accessories for the touch that include cases, charging docks, speakers, fitness sensors and more.

So what do you think? Is there still a market for PDAs? Are there other devices not mentioned here that you think would make a great PDA for the non-smartphone crowd? Let me know your ideas.

Filed in categories: Android related, Articles, iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: PDA

Is there still a market for PDAs? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 21, 2011 at 5:49 pm.

Dear Gadget Diary,

Gadgets have been keeping me busy the last couple of weeks with the iPhone 4S and now the Kindle Fire. I’ve only had the Fire for a few days, but my initial impressions are that it’s no iPad. But for $199, it’s a nice little tablet. I don’t want to make any snap judgements though, so I want to use it awhile longer before I post my full review. I should be receiving an HTC Rezound review sample tomorrow. I’m excited to try it as I haven’t used an Android phone since my Motorola Droid X.

Jeanne and I went back up to Indy to the GRT Glass Design Studio yesterday to pick up the glass tiles we made last weekend. For the 2 of you that are interested, here’s how the tiles turned out (see my last diary entry for more info…).

This is the first glass tile that I made back in October.

We attended a 2nd class last weekend and here’s the pattern I used. I wanted to make a sun to go along with the moon.

This is how it turned out. I like the moon better

After that, we drove back down to Greenwood to check out the Barnes & Noble bookstore. I was really amazed that the mall parking lots were so full. No one would know that the US is having economic troubles by the crowds of people we saw shopping.

After my usual perusal of the magazine section, I headed over to the notebook and journal area. I almost bought a boxed set of monthly Moleskine Daily Diary Planners. The set contains 12 individual Moleskine Volant notebooks. One for each month, in a different color. The price was $39.95, but using that handy dandy ShopSavvy app on my iPhone 4S, I found that I could buy the same thing through Amazon with a $13 savings. I did end up buying a set of Moleskine Volants and two sets of Cahiers notebooks though. I’m currently obsessed with trying to find a perfect way to keep a daily journal on my iPhone, iPad or good old paper. I think paper is going to win the battle, but I’m not sure buying a bazillion notebooks is helping. In the process, I’ve become a notebook addict…

I guess there are worse things to be addicted to right?

In other news, I found two iOS apps that are saving me time and effort. If you do any type of business where you have to sign forms and then fax them to someone, you know how inconvenient it can be to print the form, fill it out and then fax it. I don’t even have a fax machine, so I usually have to scan the document and then email it. One app is called Sign-N-Send.

It allows you to open PDFs or Word documents directly from your email and then use your finger or a stylus to sign your name or type text into fields. You can choose different colors and even highlight text. Moving text blocks around on the iPhone’s small display is challenging, but it’s definitely doable if you need to sign a form and get it back to someone quickly. FYI: the free version of the app puts a full page ad as the first page of your document.

Another app I purchased recently is called CamScanner+. With it, you can use the camera in your iPhone to take pictures of documents and turn them into PDF files. The PDF files can then be emailed, uploaded to Evernote, DropBox, Google Docs and more. This app has a lot of features that make it worth the $4.99 price. It can do multi-page documents, enhances color, auto crop images and you can even search for text inside the created PDF files.

There are many scanner apps in the app store. If anyone would like to suggest a better solution to using Send-n-Sign and CamScanner+, please do.

I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving Day this week. We have a little ‘gift’ for you that will hopefully keep you awake after dinner Thursday. We’ll be bringing you a nice selection of holiday gift idea reviews. This year we have so many, that we’re going to spread them out over 3 days. So get ready!

And lastly… I have received several emails lately asking how I’m doing health-wise. I’m happy to report that I’ve been back to work (day job) for a month now and am almost halfway through my radiation treatments with no side effects (knock on wood) yet. So things are going great and I plan to keep it that way!

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: gadget diary

Julie’s Gadget Diary 11-20-11 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 20, 2011 at 5:14 pm.

When I reviewed the Apple Cards app, I was disappointed to receive a card missing the letterpress design elements I had selected. Someone at Apple read the review, and they launched an investigation into why I had received the wrong design.  Someone at the printer checked my order file and determined it was okay.  Apparently, my card had just been the victim of a glitch in this new process.  They reprinted my card for free, and I wanted you to see how the card I designed with the Apple Cards iPhone/iPod App actually looks.  Click on the above image for a larger view, and click through to see more views.

You can see in the top picture that I received the border around the photo.  This border is embossed into the card.  In the above image, you can almost see the indentation of the design. (Click it for a larger view.)  The photo printing was just as sharp and clear this time as with the first card.  I can see details in Rachel’s sweater, and I can see the stitches on Teddy’s holly leaves.  The “Season’s Greetings” is just printed on, not embossed.

The interior is missing the border – which wasn’t part of the design I had selected – and has the flourish between the greeting and the signature – which was part of the design I selected.  The flourish is letterpressed, so it is embossed into the card.  None of the printing inside the card is embossed.  Again, this image can be clicked for a larger view.

I think the card is attractive and well-printed.  It’s certainly worth the $2.99 purchase price.  I still wish I had more designs from which to choose.  I’d also like an expanded color gamut so I could have some pink and yellow on baby cards and some red and green on Christmas cards.

Some people will say that having the signature printed on and having someone else mail the card is too impersonal.  Perhaps, but all my friends and family know what a geek I am, and I think they would appreciate getting these cards from me.  I’m impressed by the quality of the card, and by Apple’s attention to working the kinks out of their new system.  I’m sorry to report that I still did not receive the promised delivery notification, though.

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged:

Update to Apple Cards iPhone / iPod App Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 26, 2011 at 2:00 pm.

Dear Gadget Diary,

My smartphone (which happens to be the iPhone 4 at the moment) was my BFF this past Saturday. The first thing I used it for was Google Maps to navigate to the GRT Glass Design Studio on the East side of Indy for an art workshop that Jeanne and I attended. Google Maps isn’t as good as a full blown GPS app since it doesn’t have spoken turn-by-turn directions. But it works just fine when you’re the navigator and not the driver. 

The workshop was called Glass Design Play Days and we were able to create a piece of art from a scrap of plate glass. The process requires you to cut a design out of special fire proof paper. I knew I wanted to make a moon shape for my design, I but wasn’t sure exactly how to draw it on the paper. I used my iPhone to surf google’s image library for ideas. One minute later, I was all set.

After I cut out all the little parts of the design and layered them for a sort of 3D effect, I placed the piece of glass over it and set it on the kiln where it will be fired this week. We go back next weekend to pick up the finished tiles. I hope mine turns out good.

After the workshop, we met my Dad for lunch at Cheesecake Factory. I used the iPhone during the drive from the glass studio to the restaurant to browse their menu. They have too many choices, so I wanted to figure out what I might want to order before I got there.

During lunch, I was able to show him pictures I’d taken at the glass studio so he knew what we’d been up to that morning.

After lunch, we went to the Barnes & Noble book store next door. I snapped pictures of books that I thought might be fun to read at a later date. At one point, another customer noticed me doing this and commented that I was just like his wife. Ha!

Jeanne found a book on jewelry making and asked me to look it up on Amazon.com via my phone to see what the price was. Instead, I pulled up ShopSaavy, scanned the barcode on the back of the book and boom, it told me that Amazon indeed did have it for a cheaper price. She was impressed.

On the drive home, I was able to catch up on some emails and Facebook. Ain’t technology great?

Filed in categories: Articles, iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: gadget diary

Julie’s Gadget Diary 10-10-11 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 10, 2011 at 2:00 pm.

I’ve been accused of being an Apple fangirl, but you’d be surprised to know that I’m a recent convert.  There were years that I had nothing but contempt for Apple products.  I thought they were over-priced and ugly.  I thought people who said you could just open them up and get down to work were fooling themselves, to put it nicely.  I liked my old IBM clone just fine, thank you.  I liked clicking around with my noisy keyboard.  I liked DOS, and I didn’t need a mouse for “pointing and grunting”, as I described it.  I wouldn’t even walk into the Apple section at the local CompUSA store.

Then I saw an iPod, and I needed one.  I eventually got one after Apple saw the light and allowed them to work with real Windows computers.  That was just one little blip; I didn’t have a problem yet.  I began to notice how beautiful Apple computers were becoming.  I still would kill for one of those clear easel-style monitors.  I started to wonder how difficult it would be to put Windows on an Apple computer.

Then I saw my first iPhone commercial, and I told my husband I wanted one of those to use instead of my iPod (still the original one I bought).  When Apple introduced the iPod touch, I was tempted.  I was doomed when the introduction of the 2^nd generation iPod touch coincided with the opening of the Greensboro Apple store.  We bought three touches, and I was on the slippery slope to fandom.  I firmly believe the iPod touch is the gateway drug that leads to harder, unibody things.  I was truly converted when I got my first iPad thanks to Julie.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was being lured in by the evolution of Apple products as directed by Steve Jobs.  I didn’t know the man, and I don’t know much about his personal life.  None of that matters to me.  What matters is his genius and how it has impacted my life.

I think there are some true geniuses in this world, not necessarily as defined by an IQ test.  I think some people “hear the music of the spheres” and they can translate that beauty into something for the rest of us.   Frank Lloyd Wright heard it, and he made buildings so beautiful that I have literally cried as I walk into them.  Einstein heard the music, and we are still finding ways to prove his “transcription” of the physics of that music.

I think Steve Jobs also heard the music.  He translated it and harnessed it into products powerful enough to help us do our jobs, simple and intuitive enough that young children can play on them and learn, fun enough to provide us with hours of entertainment (when we aren’t using them for our jobs).  Most importantly to my family, his products have found a way to bring this to people with disabilities who can’t easily use other computers.  My story of George and Gracie shows how his simple little tablet is helping George recover his life after a devastating stroke.

Yes, I’m an Apple fangirl, and I’m damn proud to be one.  I think the world is a poorer place today.  I hope the folks at Apple will be able to continue bringing us wonderful products that still have a touch of Steve’s “music.“

Steve was a giant.  It’s his shoulders we’ll stand on as we go forward.

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: steve jobs

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm.

So, the Amazon “Kindle Fire” tablet is now reality and I believe it will be a big seller. At $199 it is within shouting distance of that “no brainer” gadget purchase price. Best of all, for us consumers, Amazon is forcing the rest of the tablet market to prove their value and “reason for being”.

That doesn’t mean that Motorola, Asus, Acer, Toshiba, Vizio, Samsung and whoever else is making an Android tablet this week is going to be out of business. Oh, and unless Apple hires Leo Apotheker (former CEO of Hewlett-Packard), I very much doubt the iPad is going to be killed off anytime soon.

There is an “if” though, because I’m writing about a device I’ve only seen in demo videos. Problems have been known to become apparent when a million users fire up a new device or service. But, for the sake of this article I’m going to assume that the demos are real, the people that used the demo units are being honest and that Amazon is sticking with their practice of not releasing products until they are ready. Besides, if Amazon doesn’t deliver it will make for an even better article come mid-November.

First let’s talk about the timing of Amazon’s release. It’s about as good as it could get. The product is available for presale now, on the cusp of the fourth quarter, it will be released over a month before Christmas and most importantly, may be available several months before Apple is expected to announce its new iPad model(s).

In designing the Kindle Fire Amazon looked at their target market and only included hardware necessary to support that offering. The device features:

1. 1 Ghz Dual Core Processor
2. 7″ multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors
3. Battery Life – 7.5 hours of video or 8 hours of book reading (WiFi Off)
4. Weight 14.6 ounces (413 grams)
5. Charges from wall adapter OR computer USB port
6. Free cloud storage for all Amazon content.
7. One-month Prime Subscription
8. 8GB RAM
9. Amazon Silk web browser (http://amazonsilk.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/introducing-amazon-silk/)

So, Amazon has developed a device that when coupled with their extensive online content library is clearly aimed at the consumer/home market both in price and capabilities. I doubt we’ll be reading stories about the Kindle Fire being used as a Point-of-Sale system or for navigating commercial aircraft.

However, the Kindle Fire has more than enough processing power to provide for smooth video playback, fast app launches and a responsive user interface. The display is bright, has a higher pixel density than the iPad 2, and (hallelujah!) an anti-reflective screen.

If the battery life lives up to the claims it’s more than acceptable for consumer use and being able to charge the device from either the wall or a standard USB port makes it less likely you’ll have to carry, or hunt for a high-amperage charger when needed. Basically, you’ll be able to charge it with the same charger or cable you’re using for a number of other devices in your home or car.

The Kindle Fire comes with 8GB of storage space and no slot for extra memory. I believe that is going to be sufficient when you consider Amazon is also including free storage on their cloud system. To give you an idea I looked at memory usage on my iPad where I have over 350 apps installed and they only take up about 3GB of space. For further comparison I checked my T-Mobile G2 phone and found that 150 apps there resided in less than 700MB of memory.

This should leave sufficient room for the device to hold several hours of video, books and a lot of music, and provided there’s a WiFi signal available content can be removed from the device and new downloaded from your online library. Once you have purchased content from Amazon it is always available. I suspect that Amazon will charge for non-Amazon content that is uploaded to their service much as they do with their existing MP3 library service (the first 5GB of non-Amazon content is free and 20GB of storage costs $20/year with higher limits available.).

What may also aid in the Kindle Fire being a game-changer is their new “Silk” browser. Amazon is attempting to split the workload of the browser between their “EC2” cloud service and the device. They’ll be caching pages in their cloud service as well as making intelligent guesses (based on data gathered from all of their users) at what links you’re likely to follow and pre-downloading them to the device. They’ll also be optimizing (shrinking) graphics and other content so that it is only the quality and size necessary to look good on the Kindle Fire’s display. Companies like AOL, Opera, Skyfire and a few others have tried similar, albeit less complex, schemes in the past. If Amazon can succeed in speeding up the browsing experience it would become another significant differentiator between them and the competition.

Amazon’s choices of what features they didn’t include in the Kindle Fire are almost as important as the features they did. Amazon’s new tablet reportedly does not include:

1. GPS or Accelerometer (G-Sensor)
2. Bluetooth Radio
3. 3G/4G Radio
4. No Microphone
5. No Cameras
6. No Memory Expansion Slot
7. No HDMI/mini HDMI port

All of these missing features were shaved to reduce cost, size/weight and battery usage. The only item on the list that surprises me is the Bluetooth radio as it would allow people to connect their wireless headphones and external speakers. Perhaps one can be added via the device’s mini-USB port, but that smacks of the same connectivity unfriendliness as the iPad Camera Connection kit for the iPad. Dante’ should have included “dongle usage and storage” as one of the “Circles of Hell” .

Some will complain about the lack of a 3G/4G option, but I don’t believe Amazon wanted to include a feature that would require their customers to contract with a third-party company. The cost of providing an all-inclusive 3G package like they offer on the existing 3G Kindle readers would have been too pricey. Customers don’t like metered service, contracts and, in general, mobile carriers. Even the best of the carriers is ranked pretty low on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index.

I’m sure AT&T’s backpedaling on the iPad 3G’s $30/month unlimited package (it’s now $25/month for 2GB) shortly after the iPad 3G was launched also had struck a nerve. It wouldn’t take many movie downloads to more than equal the price of the device in data charges. That may lead to unhappy customers.

On a side note, I’d suggest that anyone absolutely needing 3G/4G service for their Kindle Fire consider purchasing one of the standalone mobile hotspots. For roughly the same cost you could have 4G service (if available) and use it with a variety of devices. There are also some phones offered by the carriers that allow tethering as part of their data plan (My T-Mobile G2 phone is one of them).

The rest of the items are superfluous to the Kindle Fire’s intended use. The Amazon’s development team was not intent on replacing your computer, car navigation system, smartphone or point and shoot camera. The Kindle Fire is a relatively inexpensive device that is meant to fulfill the desire to watch TV shows, movies, play games, read books, newspapers and magazines, listen to music, browse the web and check things like email and personal calendars. My guess is that list covers about 85% of the use most tablets see today and a far higher-percentage of the use predicted for the hundreds of millions of people that haven’t yet purchased a tablet.

Certainly there are going to be people that want a device that has one or more of the features that Amazon did not include. Amazon is gambling that a lot of consumers are going to decide against paying $200 more for some of the fuller featured Android tablets or $300 – $450 extra for a WiFi iPad/3G iPad with GPS capability.

Presently, there’s only one successful tablet maker, Apple and the iPad. I’m looking forward to seeing how Apple reacts to the Kindle Fire. Their response is going to tell us a lot about Apple’s market strategy moving forward. Do they want to be a sales leader in the tablet marketplace or are they content to be the manufacturer of a highly regarded, high-margin luxury model? Steve Jobs once stated that the Macintosh’s market share was greater than that of Porsche, BMW or Mercedes and being the BMW or Mercedes of the computer market wasn’t a bad thing. We’ll soon get to see if that’s still the Apple strategy or if they’re willing to compete based on price in the tablet marketplace. With their locked-in content libraries (iTunes and the Apple App Store) proving to be a significant profit center for Apple the pressure to drop price or produce lower-end iPads might be very tempting.

While Apple is planning its next move the other Tablet makers need to decide in which segment of the market they want to compete. Google (and its licensees like Asus, Acer, Toshiba, Samsung and even Sony) trails both Amazon and Apple badly in availability of streaming video and other saleable content.

Even if Google can improve its content offerings it would be hard for their partner tablet manufacturers to reduce their margins of the units when they will be sharing their profits from the sale of content with Google or even Amazon’s own Android market offerings.

I expect we’ll see some of these guys pull the plug on their current offerings and others re-work their devices to go after the other potentially large tablet segment, productivity machines. Samsung, Asus, and Acer have always been adept at producing lower-cost versions of products. None has ever shown itself to be a market pioneer or provider of entertainment content. This may lead to some of them jumping ship from Android to Windows 8 and its desktop integration, but that’s over a year away and in a marketplace where the lifecycle of a device can be less than two months (HP TouchPad), a year is a long, long time.

Sony’s choices will also be interesting to watch. While their e-readers have been technically competent they haven’t really challenged Amazon or Barnes & Noble in that marketplace. They have two tablets and, of course, their own library of video and music content. In the past they have licensed that to vendors like Apple and Amazon. I doubt they’re going to pull that content from Apple or Amazon, two significant revenue sources; however tablets like the Kindle Fire do pose a threat to their portable gaming devices, and even to their PlayStation 3 consoles.

My guess, Sony will also focus their tablet offerings to compete in the productivity segment and perhaps work a revenue sharing deal with Amazon for content distribution through their PlayStation devices.

For those old-timers out there like me, I expect that the Kindle Fire could have the same impact on the tablet market as the Commodore 64 had on the personal computer industry back in 1982. Commodore’s CEO Jack Tramiel used to proudly claim that he made, “Computers for the masses, not the (upper) classes.

So, we may end up with the two of the highest rated companies for customer satisfaction in their respective markets going toe to toe (Apple is the highest rated Personal Computer Manufacturer and Amazon holds the top spot among online retailers according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index).

For those that enjoy watching the machinations, sparring and outright wars in the high technology industry this should be a great show.

Filed in categories: Android related, Articles, Tablet Computers and Gear

Tagged: Acer, Amazon, Apple, asus, Commodore, iPad, Jack Tramiel, Kindle, Samsung, Sony, Tablet

Kindle Fire – A Tablet for the Masses? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 2, 2011 at 11:00 am.