hertenberger.co.za

Fortunate Apple fans in the USA will be able to pre-order the iPad in the next few hours. Though the 3G-enable iPad will be shipped only much later, the wireless model could be in expectant mitts by 3 April. The 3G model will ship only at the end of April.

There is still no information on when the iPad will be available to markets outside of the USA, though it may be possible to purchase and import from authorized retailers soon. The iPad added to my B&H wish list was removed after Apple indicated that only authorized resellers would be able to sell the device. It’s to be expected that the initial volume of sales will occur in a market that precludes non-US residents from purchasing. Once the craziness has died down, everyone will be able to buy one – Apple is into making money, after all.

Media centre PC’s and standalone PC’s to serve music are all well and good. Unfortunately, their use generally depends on a bit of technical know-how and a fair bit of fiddling with extra kit. It’s just never a seamless experience. With a wireless network already blanketing 90% of the house, I decided to try out a gadget that I’ve been eyeing for some time: a Squeezebox. Now owned by Logitech and probably one of the few worthy Sonos competitors, I favour the Squeezebox primarily for its Logitech branding and a more reasonable price point.

Availability of the Squeezebox products is somewhat limited – with little to choose from, I selected the Squeezebox Boom.

In simple terms, the Boom is an attractive, black box featuring speakers on either end and a control panel midsection. In contrast to the Squeezebox Radio, there is no colour screen – no album art can be displayed. Whilst that initially may seem like a disadvantage, the Boom’s green, text-only display is very functional. There’s no need to view album art the size of a matchbox from 10m away – it’s the sound that matters.

The box contains the Squeezebox Boom, a remote control with a battery included, power adapter and 3.5mm connector cable. If you have any thoughts of taking the Boom with you, a handy protective pouch is provided, though the unit is on the heavy side and you’ll need to remember the power adapter. Without a network and Internet connection, the Squeezebox is of little use. In this mode, it functions as an amplifier for a music source connected by the 3.5mm cable. When connected to a wired or wireless network, however, the functionality of this music device comes to the fore.

It starts with the setup, which is seamless and absolutely first-rate. Prior to starting up the device, I downloaded and installed the SqueezeCenter software on the iMac. This service collates music from iTunes and interacts with Logitech’s SqueezeNetwork. Signing up is free – I entered my user name and password into the SqueezeCenter, then allowed the service to run through my 300GB iTunes music library. SqueezeCenter also runs on Linux and Windows and is able to serve music files from a variety of sources.

The Boom will live in the kitchen. There’s no wired network connection there, so I decided to try out the wireless connection. After plugging the unit into the power adapter, I watched the Squeezebox Boom go through its setup routine. It’s all automated and the process of entering values using only the dial or remote control unit a no-brainer. By way of DHCP, the unit obtains an IP address. The only other requirement is to enter the IP address of the iMac serving the music and running the SqueezeCenter. A reboot after updating its firmware meant the Boom was ready for service in an area with a wireless signal strength of less than 30%.

First off, I selected an MP3 from the iTunes library. Good sound quality and immediate response. The same when selecting a playlist. The Boom provides a number of onboard features, the creation of ad-hoc playlists being one. Searching for artists and titles is intuitive and easy: scroll through possible entries and enter text one letter at a time by turning the dial or the buttons on the remote. One feature I miss is the ability to play Audible books. That playlist doesn’t show up on the player. I guess issues with the DRM preclude this, but it would be a great addition to the Squeezebox. What amazed me most was the instant access and clear reproduction of Internet radio stations. A host of presets featuring radio stations across the world is provided, selectable from the menu. In all cases, I experienced no lag and no buffering – all radio stations played clearly and without a hitch.

Read the rest of this entry »

As with all technology, a recent purchase of a modern DSLR is likely to result in quick disappointment as a newer model is announced, in increasingly shorter timeframes. To update the 350D, I bought a Canon EOS 500D in December. It’s an excellent camera with some fantastic features for the price. Yesterday, Canon announced the imminent arrival of the 500D’s successor, the Canon EOS 550D. That camera is also known by its other moniker, the T2i.

The obvious focus of the new 550D is video capture, something the 500D already handled with aplomb. The camera is capable of 3.7 fps and an ISO range of 100-6400, expandable to an unusable 12800. Borrowing from its bigger EOS brothers, there’s a 63-zone metering system and 18MP image sensor backed by the DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor. Full 1080p HD video capture is possible, backed up by an interesting new feature for standard definition video recording: Movie Crop is capable of providing an almost 7x zoom into the field of view without any loss in image quality. Movie Crop is similar to the older digital zoom function found on cameras, though the difference is in the way the image is processed, being cropped and captured directly from the imaging sensor instead of a magnification of individual picture elements.

The Canon EOS 550D should be in stores in the USA within the next two months or so, costing about the same as the EOS 500D. More information can be found here.

I wasn’t an early adopter of the new Apple Magic Mouse. Overall, the Mighty Mouse with its single trackball in its wired and wireless variations has served me well. Though there is a lot of criticism leveled at that peripheral, I was quite comfortable using it and was even adept at left and right clicking at will. I found the shape quite comfortable and something that accentuated the experience of working with a Mac. Since my current black MacBook doesn’t have a multi-touch trackpad, I grabbed a Magic Mouse on a recent flyby of the local Apple store.

The Magic Mouse is sleek and attractive. Boxed in a clear perspex container, it exudes the charm a gadget costing more than ZAR 800 should. There are no unsightly wires and absolutely no button or trackpad to be seen. The smooth, curved surface contains a discreet Apple logo. The mouse is satisfyingly weighty and slides quite nicely on a smooth surface.

Setup on the MacBook running Snow Leopard was extremely simple: unpack the mouse, switch it on (batteries are already installed) and let the Bluetooth stacks communicate.

I was a bit apprehensive about the use of the touch interface on the mouse. Within minutes, I was scrolling easily through documents in Pages and web sites in Firefox. It’s an incredibly intuitive way of working. A brief stop in the Mouse preferences pane to change the function of the secondary button is the usual configuration change I make for every Apple mouse.

Moving the index finger across the length of the mouse enables scrolling top to bottom. Left to right scrolling is achieved by moving the index finger along the width of the mouse. A nice feature is the ability to zoom into the screen by pressing the ctrl key and scrolling upward. A sideways two-finger swipe assists scrolling through iPhoto libraries, for example. When not in use, the mouse powers down to help conserve the batteries – hopefully, these won’t need replacing too often.

The Magic Mouse enables an intuitive interaction with the Mac. I took to it without a minute’s hesitation and already find myself trying to scroll without using the scroll wheel on the G2S‘ Logitech mouse. Most certainly pricey, but an absolute joy to use. I’ll have to think about replacing the iMac’s mouse next…

One year ago, I bought a LED LENSER P7 whilst vacationing in Australia. At that time, the German brand was not well-known in South Africa and I hadn’t been exposed to any of their products. That has changed. Since then, most LED LENSER torches are available at selected stores.

For a while, I relied on Captain SearchEye, a high-power halogen-bulb torch. It required a fairly lengthy charge cycle, couldn’t be operated whilst plugged into a lighter socket and would provide necessary lighting for less than a quarter of an hour. The torch is heavy, but is very effective. The biggest issue with rechargeables is that most have an overload protector built-in. Hence, they can generally not be operated whilst plugged into a power source. Eventually, Captain SearchEye passed away – the battery could no longer be charged and even though there seemed no obvious damage to the halogen bulb, battery and internal circuitry a fix for the unit was not an option. I bought a smaller, rechargeable halogen torch only to find that it too wouldn’t operate whilst plugged into the car’s cigarette lighter socket. Runtime? A paltry ten minutes or so, making it absolutely useless for occasional patrols taking about an hour. Clearly it was time to ditch cheap and nasty Asian technology and go back to quality, performance and good workmanship!

My new solution is certainly nowhere as cheap as the halogen torches I’ve selected in the past. But with the P7 as an excellent reference, the selection of the pricey LED LENSER X21 was a no-brainer.

The X21 is roughly 40cm in length, weighs about 1.5kg and boasts 7 LED’s that can pump out a whopping 950 lumens light beam to a distance of almost 400m. Best of all, the X21 relies on four ordinary D batteries and can run on those for quite some time – no more recharging or worrying about battery life.

The torch is supplied in a carry case and includes four batteries and a carrying strap that can be attached to the torch to make it more convenient to lug around.

Operating the torch is very simple: the first press of the button provides a full power beam and a subsequent press switches to a lower output beam. Another press of the button switches the torch off. It’s not necessary to press the button in: a light press provides light for as long as the button is held down halfway. To focus the beam, the 9cm front section is simply pushed or pulled. As with the P7, weather sealing is excellent, as is the build quality. Check out the Zweibrueder Optoelectronics website for more details.

Today, a special event is scheduled to take place at Google’s headquarters in California. If the rumourmill is to be believed, Google may be unveiling its own Android-based phone which goes by the name Nexus One.

Some of the specifications that are available indicate that  the hardware is manufactured by HTC and that the operating system is the brand-new version 2.1, also known by its codename Flan.

Version 2.1 of Android seems to speed certain operations up a bit, though it’s likely the 1GHz Snapdragon processor has something to do with that. The device has both 512MB available for its ROM and its RAM and features a 480×800 touchscreen and a 5MP camera in addition to the now standard network connectivity hardware. A MicroSD card slot is provided for additional storage. The device is extremely sleek – see the full specifications here.

The Nexus One is for sale on Google’s web store – unfortunately, the device is presently not for sale to South African residents.

I’m paranoid about my gadgets, often trying to be more careful about not marring a shiny surface than putting them to their intended use in their very short technological lifespan. No gadget is more mollycoddled than my camera, and that includes, without exception, an absolute avoidance of moisture.

Most cameras should be kept out of the wet at all times, but higher end cameras have been built to withstand far more abuse than I would ever wish to see. For a great example of this see Canon Field Reviews. The description of the Canon 7D’s weather sealing capabilities by Ole Jørgen Liodden is absolutely fascinating.

The fact that his 1DS Mark III fell into the water twice and continued to function without incident is a good indication of what these cameras are capable of, even if a story like that can bring tears to one’s eyes… In the end, it’s about using a tool for an intended purpose.

SanDisk has produced one of the fastest compact flash cards currently available, the 64GB UDMA 6 Extreme Pro. Aimed clearly at those wanting to shoot 1080p video on the latest generation of DSLR’s, the Extreme Pro features a transfer rate of 90MB per second.

There are only two things to consider: the price and whether or not your camera will be able to support the high-capacity storage card. First, the price. At almost USD 900, the 64GB card is still extremely expensive. Currently, 32GB cards are probably a better bet from a cost-performance point of view, though it may be prudent to consider investing in 16GB models to get the best bang for one’s buck. If the transfer speed is absolutely necessary, the cost for the Extreme Pro may be justified, though the Extreme IV storage cards work quite nicely.

The support for the 64GB card is another matter entirely: for my EOS 5D Mark II, SanDisk doesn’t seem to recommend the product, though all indications are that the card will work in that camera without any trouble. Before jumping into a purchase of this rather expensive item, you should be sure that it will work with your particular gear. Better still: wait another six months or so and get this at a vastly reduced cost. By then, 128GB CF cards will probably be the order of the day…

I just posted some notes on getting PDF content onto a Kindle two days or so ago. Today, Amazon announced a software upgrade to the Kindle that makes the device 100% more useful and versatile than it already was. The Kindle software version 2.3 that magically appeared on my Kindle and I noticed only once I received a notification mail from Amazon mentioning its existence adds native PDF support. No more messing around with file conversions or sending files to the Amazon Kindle account for half-baked PDF conversion: simply drag and drop a PDF file onto the device when connected to a computer, then read the PDF on the go.

I tested this with some Canon EOS instruction manuals and am happy to see PDF’s in absolute detail and clarity – there’s simply no comparison to the conversion achievable with the PDFRead method I discussed earlier. This is where I see a lot of value in the Kindle: the ability to carry instruction manuals in PDF form anywhere, in a single, compact package. The sample below is not a screenshot taken from the Kindle, but the quality of the PDF in Acrobat Reader on the PC and on the Kindle is identical.

The addition of a native PDF reader is an absolute highlight – if you were still on the fence with regard to a purchase of a Kindle, this is one killer feature that may change your mind. Other improvements in the 2.3 firmware include the optimization of battery usage when the device is connected to the GSM network, the ability to view content in either landscape or portrait orientation and the ability to magnify sections of a document for clearer reading.

It’s just as well Amazon sent a note regarding the update – I probably would never have noticed even though the update had already taken place… Your Kindle will have the update too.

I still haven’t put up a review or any comments regarding the Kindle. It’s a great device and I’m using it more and more as time permits. The greatest killer feature (read killer for the wallet) is the absolute ease with which I’m able to browse the Kindle store and purchase books. A recent viewing of a documentary on National Geographic prompted me to look up a book by an author interviewed during the course of the documentary. The subsequent purchase of his book was an absolute no-brainer…

Another good use for the Kindle is the ability to display PDF documents. The standard way of having documents converted to PDF format is to send a document in an appropriate format to the service offered by Amazon. For a small fee (there’s also a free service), the input document is converted and sent to the Kindle once conversion has taken place. I’ve found the abilities of the Amazon conversion service to be mediocre, unless the document contains only text. For graphics-heavy documents, reasonably easy and free option is available in the form of PDFRead. PDFRead is a free, downloadable application that runs on Windows and Mac OS X. Its purpose is simple: take as input a file and convert it to a format that is suitable for viewing on a variety of readers, including the Kindle. The results for graphics-intensive documents are reasonable – don’t expect very crisp images. But it’s serviceable and certainly usable.

The application expects certain inputs, most importantly an input file and the resultant output file. Both formats should be specified and it is mandatory to enter a title and an author. Certain output options tweak how the resulting file will be output. For the Kindle, I use the profile prc-mobi-p for a portrait-optimized file.

A click of the Convert button, and PDFRead runs along. In the case of a PDF, each page is converted into an image and all images are later assembled into a cohesive output file for the Kindle.

The conversion process is one of best effort – images are slightly fuzzy and text not always clear.

The output file is copied to the Kindle via the USB connection.

If you require PDF content on your Kindle, this is certainly a very convenient and reliable method. Output depends on the content and the complexity of the images. Other than that, PDFRead is hard to fault.