The Gadgets Page

It is called the Playstation 3 Eye. It is no longer called EyeToy. “I am not a toy!” it screams. Actually, it still looks a little bit like a toy. Like a hacked webcam with a speaker. Personally, I don’t care how it looks as long as it WORKS. The EyeToy did NOT work. You can see a full review here:

• Gadgets Page » Sony Eye Toy Vs. Nintendo Wii

The PS3 Eye, however, is supposed to work better in low light situations. That’s good to hear, but the proof is in the pudding. I’m not going to be the first to spend money on it. Sony has burned me before, so I don’t really trust them.

Here is the official press release from Sony:

• PlayStation.com – News – Press Releases – PLAYSTATION®Eye Brings Next-Generation Communication to PLAYSTATION®3

Here are a couple of reviews from people who aren’t quite as bitter as I am:

• Gadgets: PlayStation 3 Eyetoy No Longer Toy – Gizmodo

• Forevergeek – Sony reveals the Playstation 3 Eye

Just a moment of reverent quiet for Steve Jobs…

Seriously, be quiet and pretend to pray or somethin’ for a minute, ’cause this is important, foo’…

Years ago, Steve Jobs was a hard bargainer with the record companies. He insisted on 99 cents a song. He’d go no higher. I thought he was pretty smart back then keeping it less than a buck. I wasn’t willing to buy the songs on iTunes (with a few iTunes-exclusive exceptions) because of the DRM. It didn’t let me play the songs on my Treo, so I wasn’t going to shell out the money, however inconsequential, for music that wouldn’t work on my phone.

Fast forward to 2007, iTunes is dominating the industry. Steve is finally willing to let the record companies charge you a little more for each song. What do you get in return? NO DRM. You can play your song on your iPod, your Treo, your Zune, your Zen or any other player you have out there. Now that 99 cent stubbornness seems like perfect and unrelenting genius to me.

You can find out more here:

• Apple, Labels Focus on Copy Protection – washingtonpost.com

You can already buy non-DRM tunes from EMI for thirty cents more than DRM-crippled tunes. I have a stockpile of iTunes cards saved up for when the Beatles finally acquiesce and join the EMI family on iTunes. I’m hoping I don’t have to wait too long.

I’ve come to realize that all computers have benefits and all computers have flaws. No matter which operating system you choose, you have advantages and disadvantages. Choose Windows for gaming. Choose OS X for video-blogging. Choose Linux for a server.

Okay, okay…

Choose Nintendo DS for gaming…

Via: random($foo)

Dave at The Other Drummer is disgusted that Motorola is still riding the coattails of the RAZR. He notes that the RAZR is a four-year-old design whose time has come.

• The Other Drummer: Die RAZR die

I don’t think the RAZR is dead yet, but he’s right about technology years:

Changing the color of your product for four years does not constitute a “design refresh”. Releasing a purple “version” for Mother’s Day? “Tattooed” editions? Please. Technology years pass faster than dog years. That means your design for the RAZR is at least 21 years old. 21 years ago it was 1986.

Strangely, the RAZR is really just a Motorola StarTac that has gone through the pasta roller. Back in 1996, Motorola released the StarTac and I was happily surprised at how small and portable my phone became. The StarTac was the first phone that passed the “Should I Take It” threshold. I never again needed to decide whether I should bring my phone with me or not. It was small enough to take with me all the time.

Then again, the StarTac was a smaller version of the MicroTac by Motorola. The MicroTac came out in 1989. Despite its size compared to the StarTac and the RAZR, it was actually a micro-cell phone compared to the bricks of its day. This was my first cell phone and I was so proud of my cool phone back then.

Does that RAZR design still look dated when compared to its predecessors? That clamshell design has been the cornerstone of Motorola for years, but what’s the difference between a cornerstone and a stale design? In the end, the “flip-phone” style is VERY efficient, but the RAZR is about as small as it can go and still be usable.

I believe the next step for Motorola should be the flip-phone PDA. Motorola is on track with the Motorola Q Phone and the next step is a phone as small as the RAZR with the full capabilities of a PDA like the Q. They have to solve the data input problem and the Blackberry keyboard, QWERTY keyboard and touch screen keyboard are all inadequate right now. Once Motorola solves that problem, they’ll once again have a killer phone that everyone will want. It will finally be the phone to tear me away from the Treo. I can’t wait!

After a winter of freezing while working in the garage, Daniel Strohl was struck with the idea of creating his own solar panel garage heater. Fifty cans of Sprite later, he concocted a heater that was easily able to add 15 degrees of heat to the air. Too bad it’s summer now and he won’t need a heater for another six months.

• Hemmings Auto Blogs » Blog Archive » almost free garage heat – just drink a lot of soda

He had a lot of ideas on how he could have done better next time around:

Were I to do this again, I’d first make the furnace larger. As I recall, Dad’s measured something like four feet on each side. Obviously, the more surface area, the more heat you’ll pick up. Second, as mentioned above, I’d relocate the inlet to the back of the box to direct all the air through the cans. Or at least I’d cut a piece of aluminum to act as a baffle and prevent the air from rising straight up. Third, I might use those small soda cans I’ve seen in the grocery stores lately, just to get more surface area.

Sounds like a great idea for a project to work on this summer so that you can add a little free heat to your home or garage next year. Get drinking that Red Bull because those cans are probably the best.

Via: Cynical-C Blog – » Soda Can Solar Panel

The hipsters have been obsessed with moleskine notebooks. The geeks have been obsessed with digital storage space. The Geekster? Well, the Geekster is obsessed with BOTH and can finally have both in one convenient package thanks to zonageek!

• zonageek: blog: The Geekster Moleskine

I love things that are disguised to look like something else! Underneath the exterior of a nondescript notebook, lies the throbbing heart of a 80 GB drive. Sexy and nerdy at the same time!

I love the frequently asked questions:

• Why? Because regular enclosures are boring. Because Moleskine notebooks are great looking. And of course, the usual answer: why not?

• Won’t it get too hot? Probably. I did no research at all, but I’m pretty certain paper is not as good thermal conductor as aluminum. But I really don’t care. I don’t plan to run Mac OS out of the drive, or to use it continuously for long periods of time. And you can always open the notebook and expose the drive.

• What will you use the extra blank pages for? Why, writting down my passwords, of course!

Via: Meriblog: Meri Williams’ Weblog » links for 2007-04-28

Josh Leo is a popular video-blogger who is quite prolific. He produces Wandering West Michigan and Josh Leo’s Vlog. How did he review his new camera, the Canon HV20? By creating a video with split screen showing the same footage taken with his new camera and his old. You can see it here: Josh Leo’s Vlog » New Camera

The true talent of this video was obvious in the editing. Josh did such a good job editing this video to make sure everything was synced perfectly that it’s obvious to see that he could create wonderful videos no matter what camera he uses. It all goes to show that your camera does not matter.

In our pockets, our purses and even in our cell phones, we have cameras that are better than some of the early photographers had at their disposal. We carry them around with us everywhere and are able to capture moments that are fleeting and beautiful. The new HD cameras are great and can capture even more detail than the previous versions, but they can’t replace true talent.

Instead of obsessing over the limitations of my camera. I need to just keep filming and keep learning. I can’t buy that.

The end of the school year is looming, which means this is the big final test of the year. How are you going to study? Do you even have to study? When you can carry the breadth and depth of human knowledge in your iPod, should you be required to memorize all those dates and names? Isn’t it more important to know HOW to find information from reliable resources? Isn’t it more important to know WHICH information should be included?

Teachers would respond with a resounding, “NO!” Me, on the other hand, I don’t know. I gave up on the educational system a long time ago and I really feel that learning how to solve problems is more important than the specific names and dates of wars long past. Let’s solve a problem, shall we?

How do I get my most important information onto my iPod, so it will be with me everywhere I go? (Continue Reading…)

There are inventive ways to cheat. It seems that some people are willing to go to great lengths to cheat when studying might actually be easier. Take the iPod, for example. A school in Idaho has banned iPods:

• Schools banning iPods to beat cheaters

Instead of crib notes on tiny pieces of paper and ball point pen on the arm, students are cheating using their iPods:

Some students use iPod-compatible voice recorders to record test answers in advance and them play them back, said 16-year-old Mountain View junior Damir Bazdar.

Others download crib notes onto the music players and hide them in the “lyrics” text files. Even an audio clip of the old “Schoolhouse Rock” take on how a bill makes it through Congress can come in handy during some American government exams.

I can do the same thing with my cell phone. Are they banned as well? What about those Fossil watches that are Palm devices? Data storage is getting smaller and smaller. Can they ban EVERYTHING? In the end, you can’t fight the technology:

“Trying to fight the technology without a dialogue on values and expectations is a losing battle,” Dodd said. “I think there’s kind of a backdoor benefit here. As teachers are thinking about how technology has corrupted, they’re also thinking about ways it can be used productively.”

More and more, we are becoming a society that has mountains of information at our fingertips. I don’t know if teaching children that they have to memorize everything is such a good idea. A more important skill is to know HOW to find information from reliable sources. It’s also important to know WHICH information to take with you when space is limited. Tests that make kids regurgitate dates and concepts are the problem, not the fact that a mere 1GB iPod Nano could store all the information a high school student could ever have on a test.

Stay tuned for Monday’s entry: How To Cheat With Your iPod

I cannot believe that I haven’t linked to this essay on the Gadgets Page. I have spent the last few years living by this motto and I thought I had shared it with everyone here, but a thorough search of our website proves that I have been remiss in my duty.

• Your Camera Does Not Matter by Ken Rockwell

If you have been thinking about getting a new camera, you need to read this essay right now. If you have bought a camera that you’re not happy with, you need to read this essay. If you are perfectly happy taking pictures with your camera phone and its dime-sized lens, you especially need to read this essay.

Here are my favorite quotes:

The camera’s only job is to get out of the way of making photographs.
Ken Rockwell, Your Camera Does Not Matter, 2005

No matter how advanced your camera you still need to be responsible for getting it to the right place at the right time and pointing it in the right direction to get the photo you want.
Ken Rockwell, Your Camera Does Not Matter, 2005

Ken took this award-winning photo with a broken camera:

• Mono Lake under Pinatubian Light by Ken Rockwell

This is what he had to say about it:

I bought a used camera that wouldn’t focus properly. It went back to the dealer a couple of times for repair, each time coming back the same way. As an artist I knew how to compensate for this error, which was a pain because I always had to apply a manual offset to the focus setting. In any case, I made one of my very favorite images of all time while testing it. [Mono Lake under Pinatubian Light] has won me all sorts of awards and even hung in a Los Angeles gallery where an original Ansel Adams came down and this image was hung. When my image came down Ansel went right up again. Remember, this was made with a camera that was returned to the dealer which they agreed was unrepairable.

The important part of that image is that I stayed around after my friends all blew off for dinner, while I suspected we were going to have an extraordinary sky event (the magenta sky, just like the photo shows.)

Ken also points us to archangel_raphael’s Flickr site, where he takes amazing photos such as this with a PDA camera:

If Ken can use a broken camera to take a photograph that hung in a museum in a spot usually held for Ansel Adams, then you can take award winning photos with your camera. If archangel_raphael can take beautiful photos with a 0.3 megapixel resolution camera, then your 5 megapixels should be enough. If you have been coveting a new camera, remember, your camera does not matter.