Posted by KL Tech Muse at 12:09 PM on February 26, 2010
I’ve owned an Iphone since it first came out and have always used the earphones that came with it. If for some reason I can’t find them I use a pair of cheap Sony headphones. I have also tried the Jawbone, but found it uncomfortable. Last week, my Iphone headphone broke, for the second time in less then a year the seal on the ear piece split. This left me with only the Sony headphones, which are ok for listening to music, but they have no mic. I decided it was time to get a good pair of headphones.
I ended up getting Bose In Ear Headphones. They were about $137 with tax at Best Buy. As I said before, I had gotten use to the sound of the Iphone and Sony headphones and thought they were ok. I was wrong. I did a completely unscientific comparison between the Bose and the Sony Headphones and the sound is definitely improved with the Bose. I choose three songs to use as a test, Simple Gifts, with Yo Yo Ma and Alison Krauss, Everything I Do Gonna be Funky, by O’Donel Levy and Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Earl Scruggs. I chose these three songs, because they are so different. Simple Gifts is just vocals and strings. Everything I Do Gonna be Funky has a lot of percussion and base. Finally, Foggy Mountain Breakdown because of its fast moving notes. All these songs were at 256 kbps and had been ripped from a CD into Itunes. The first thing I noticed was that the music was much crisper with the Bose earphones. The base was clear and the treble was not as tinny. This was especially true on the song Everything I Do Gonna be Funky, with the Sony headphones there was a definite background sound sort of like salt being shaken in the background. I didn’t hear that when I had the Bose on, it was much clearer and pristine. I also noticed because I was hearing the music more clearly I didn’t have the urge to turn the volume up.
Do I think the Bose earphones were worth another $110.00 over the Sony or Iphone headphones, that I am not sure of. They do sound better and are much more comfortable. The Bose do come with three sets ear tips; small, medium and large and it is important to chose the right tip for your ears. You may need a different size for each ear. The Bose does have the mic that the Sony headphones do not. However, the mic control only turns Itunes off and on to allow you to take calls, it doesn’t control Itunes itself like the Itunes headphones do. Also they are not noise canceling earphones. I certainly think they were worth more then I paid for either the Iphone or Sony headphones, but $110 more that I am not sure of. I’ll need more time to make a final decision.
Posted by KL Tech Muse at 6:59 AM on November 24, 2009
A couple of updates, I sent a message to the makers of Notifications on Twitter about the Time Zone issue and they replied back with the solution, my browser had auto filled the password into the first block but not the confirmation block, simply clearing the password out of the first block solved the problem. They responded within a couple of hours, which is really good. I also received a notification that came from my Gmail account, so that appears to work fine. For me even if it was only the RSS that worked I would still think that this app is worth the $2.99 I paid for it. Do you have any apps that you use to push your feeds to the iphone, if you do what are they and do you like them.
I’ve been using WebnoteHappy for the Mac for a few weeks and love it. I’m always surfing the Internet researching things and have tried various ways of capturing content on web pages that I visit and want to remember. The common way to do that is with your browser’s bookmark feature. I used that for a while but wasn’t happy with the results. In the Windows world I use a program called Azz Cardfile, that allows me to paste the contents of a web page or a link to the page in what looks like an electronic card file. I can then add notes about the site and click on the link within the card file to go back to the site in my browser. The notes are searchable too.
When I moved over to the Mac world, I missed Azz Cardfile, but I finally found something better from HappyApps.com. WebNoteHappy works with your browser to capture (bookmark) a link to a web page you find interesting. You can then add notes and other information and even search your links and notes and launch the web page in your browser. This program also allows you to create folders to help you organize what you find. You can even create Smart Folders where you set up rules to automatically move items into folders. All the links and notes are stored in a common library and only pointers are stored within the folders so items can reside in multiple folders. As an example, I have a Photographer folder with a Wish List subfolder. I also have Wish List folder under Gadgets and the program allows me to store the same item in both places (if it’s photography related).
When you install the program it places a “bookmarklet” in your browser’s toolbar. When you find a web page that you want to remember, just click the “Webnote It” bookmarklet, and it opens up WebNoteHappy and generates an entry. You can then type any notes you want about the site and even add tags.
The program sells for $24.95 USD and you can try it for 30 days before you buy it. There is also a free WebnoteHappy Lite program that works the same way except it doesn’t have folders to organize your bookmarks. The program works with both Firefox and Safari browsers.
I started out with the Lite version and moved up to the paid version because I found the program was a great time-saver for me. When I installed the paid version it found all the items I had saved in the Lite version and I didn’t loose a thing. After I upgraded to the paid version I had a few questions and received very fast response to my questions.
If you use a Mac and want to get a little more organized, give WebnoteHappy or WebnoteHappy Lite a try.
I received my Amazon Kindle DX yesterday. I am testing it for work, particularly for use with some of our disabled student population on campus. So far, it has been a fun toy. This is a pricey device ($489) so I was dubious about its value to me. Of course, I didn’t have to pay for it, and I will only have to pay for the books that I decide to purchase. Here’s a short list of likes and dislikes so far.
The things I like:
text-to-audio
automatic orientation from portrait to landscape if rotated
choice of font sizes
ability to bookmark or make notes
search function (word or phrase)
quick download of purchased books through the 3G Whispernet
ability to download my own PDF’d files to the device through the USB cord
basic web browsing
The things I don’t like:
it is a bit heavy, heavier than most books I would hold
reading it seems to be just a bit hard on my eyes, as opposed to a print book
page turning is just a tad slower than I would like
if you don’t know the exact title of a book, you will not be able to find it on the Kindle Store on the device (it is easier to look for books on Amazon’s website, then type in the title on the Kindle exactly as it shows on Amazon’s website)
But overall, this is a pretty nifty device. I’m going to use it heavily for the next week or so, and see how it does for me. I’ve already downloaded about a dozen books and will do a variety of different kinds of reading to see how the device behaves, and how my eyes react to it.
A month or more ago I purchased a Sony HDR-SR11 it is a High Definition Camera with a 60GB drive in it. I want to relay my experience with this camera as it is not all good.
When it comes to shooting video and quality of Video I have no complaints. The camera delivers as advertised. But when it comes to processing those videos one might as well smash the damn thing.
First things first it records to the Hard Drive in a .MTS format and “REQUIRES” that you use the tool provided by Sony to move the files off the camera. When it does so it changes the file somehow “MAGIC” and changes the file extension to .m2ts which is supposedly in a AVCHD format.
They provide some software to put the clips on a DVD but their is no real editing software that is provided with the camera. But getting the media to load in its native format on a MAC is a non starter. I have yet to find any MAC support.
Second it is rumored if you “BUY” Sony Vegas that it supposedly can mitigate the files for proper editing.
I Like Sony products but let me tell you something Sony has blew it. I am a geek and I deal with media on a daily basis and nothing has pissed me off more than the process Sony makes you go through.
Why they do not encode in a normal format is beyond me. All of the utilities they provide down convert the media into a non high definition experience. In all honesty I hate the camera due to the fact it is nearly impossible to edit the videos with. My advice is go buy a product from another company stay away from this line of cameras completely.
I work with Adobe Photoshop CS quite a bit and have done a lot of re-sizing of images most anyone that has prepared pictures for printing have cropped and re-sized images and from time to time have probably been disappointed with the re-sizing results.
This is where the Alien Skin Blow Up plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements has proved itself pretty good tool to consider as I have been experimenting with this Plug-In and comparing it with the default resize tool that is built into Photoshop natively. I can say for a fact that the pictures that I am blowing up with Alien Skin Blow Up plug-in are definitely turning out better.
When you launch the Blow up tool from within Photoshop it comes up seamlessly, and has the standard re-size controls with some slider bars that are tied to menu features, with these slider bars you are able to sharpen and add grain to an image. I was able to take some color photos re-size them and made to look a lot better than they would have been if I had just used the regular resize tool in Photoshop.
The Sharpen tool allows you to put a edge back edges that have been softened during the re-size. Adding grain to some of the images that I had doubled in size actually made them look more real. I think the only thing that shocked me about this product was it’s sticker price of $199 I used it on some of the images I have shot with my Cannon Rebel and was very pleased with the result. For the price range this definitely puts it in the pro tool category and while it does a great job in blowing up applications it may be over kill for the average user.
For those with a very critical eye though I think it would be money well spent. [Alien Skin Blow Up]
This software application has been provided to Geek News Central for review free of charge, and no promises where made as to what the outcome of the review would be. This product was used in a real world environment as are all products reviewed on Geek News Central for a minimum of 72 hours.
Posted by geeknews at 10:45 AM on November 29, 2005
There are very few times that when I am in front of my computer that I am not working, but the kids love to play music via a older laptop that I have hooked up to my stereo system. Given the opportunity to review a visualizer program I figured the kids would end up with something to look at when they were dancing downstairs turns out I will be buying a second copy.
I loaded the application on my desktop PC, which has a 21 inch screen and a mid range video card, and ran it through iTunes and Winamp, when I enabled it I was pretty surprised. We all have seen visualizers that essentially present you with dazzling colors but I was not expecting this. Either I have been living in a cave for a while or the folks that created this have been working overtime.
I am not sure what the total combinations of effects are, but it has to number several hundred. The software also allows you to change effects on the fly from a innovative control board along with having a screen capture function that let’s you change your desktop background to the captured image. You don’t have to be playing music as it also comes with a screen saver application that I think I will probably use more than the music portion. The only thing I think is missing is a option to force a change in visualization automatically.
SoundSpectrum G-Force Platinum is a great value at $30.00 You can tell these folks are very serious about creating amazing visualizers for your viewing pleasure. [www.soundspectrum.com]
Disclaimer: Geek News Central was given a free license to review the above software package, the application was run and tested on a average PC, and was evaluated with no expectation from the software vendor of a positive review.
I received my Amazon 
A month or more ago I purchased a Sony HDR-SR11 it is a High Definition Camera with a 60GB drive in it. I want to relay my experience with this camera as it is not all good.
