Category: New Gizmos

Last Thanksgiving Day, I had the opportunity to buy the new ROKU HD-XR Media Player at a deeply discounted price. It was the company’s Black Friday online promo and they

limited the sale to only 500 units of their top-of-the-line streaming media player. In 30 minutes, all 500 units were gone. And, trust me, the online buying experience was extremely slow – and painful – even at my fast 6 Mbps Internet connection.

The ROKU media player is one of those underrated gadgets that will probably become as popular as the iPhone or may become obsolete as the LaserDisc player. It’s one of those electronic gizmos that I found to be as reliable as, say, the microwave oven. Right now, I have a ROKU attached to every TV in the house.

Netflix (the online video rental service) was the driver that brought ROKU into existence. When Netflix began streaming movies in late 2006, it was only via the PC.

But who likes to watch movies on their small PC monitor? So, like most techies, I attached my PC to my then, old 27″ Sony Trinitron via good, old, composite video cables.

Back then, a TV (and/or, a PC video card) with an HDMI connector was still a “video-interface-media-content-delivery-format” that was being fine-tuned by multimedia hardware makers and the big media studios like Sony, Viacom, Universal Pictures, etc.

So, it’s either you turn on the computer to do some work and be on the Internet or, do I watch a Netflix movie?  The luxury of being able to do both is OK, but, the guilt that came from burning all those wattage by just watching an old movie was just too much.  My old PC has a 600-watt power supply while the Sony TV consumed about 120 watts.

I was also via Netflix’s web site that I learned about ROKU streaming devices’ availability on May 2008. I immediately got one – the ROKU HD – and I was so impressed with the unit that I excitedly recommended them to my brother & sister who also have Netflix subscriptions!

All ROKU models -SD, HD & the HD-XR – have similar 5″ x 5″ x 1.75″ dimensions and consume a mere 5 to 6 watts at peak operation. All have built-in WiFi & 100 Mbps Ethernet.

The main difference between the HD and the HD-XR model is that the latter has faster WIFI N and a USB port for future use. Both has composite, component, S-video and HDMI video outputs. I would say that you avoid getting the cheap, low-end SD model since it only has a composite video output. The SD is sufficient if you only have an old model TV with A/V jacks.

ROKU had also provided more content by adding more channels (Pandora, BlipTV, MediaFly, etc) and would probably become a full-pledged media server come 2010 by making use of the USB port on the HD-XR model via a firmware update!

—links:

www.roku.com
www.netflix.com

My trusty Nokia 6230 was badly bruised after almost 4 years of use. It had endured numerous drops & bangs, numerous cellophane tapes at the back cover because of the oversized battery I installed and dust had perennially gathered on its minuscule but colored screen.

During this period, Apple Computer had already become Apple, Inc due to the huge success of the iPhone (released June 29, 2007) and had, in fact, a second version already out in the market in the iPhone 3GS while Microsoft had released Windows Vista and is almost about to release its latest Windows 7 OS this October.

I am a Mac fanatic but not an iPhone fan. In my opinion, Nokia is a way, way better cell phone maker than Apple, Inc. They had been making phones for the Finnish military way before there was even a company called, Apple Computer, Inc.

Nokia’s drawback is that it’s not a computer company like Apple, Inc. Nokia’s vision got blurred when it was a bit late to see the integration of cell phone and computer technologies. It pays to have a company located in Silicon Valley where all these related technologies come into play: WiFi, video, flash memory, radio transmitter, Internet, etcetera, plus, of course, a brilliant user-interface…the elegant Mac OS X.

Palm, Inc is another story. It was one of the very first tech firms that tried to use a handheld device and to adopt it to the new Internet technologies that arrived in the early 90s. Hence, it has the Palm Pilot PDAs (basically organizers with capabilities to connect to the Web via modems), the Treos (phone/PDAs) and now, the Palm Pre.

Many tech “wannabes” (or, people who had been using a computer only after the web browser came out in the early 90s) had been ringing the death knell on Palm as a company after Apple’s iPhone came out in the market.

This almost came true until an investment group linked with U2’s lead singer, Bono, stepped up to the plate and invested big time ($325 million) in Palm in Oct 2007. The group was Elevation Partners.

The new group rolled the dice and on Dec 2008 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, they announced the impending release of a new Palm phone with an entirely new user interface called WebOS.

Creating an entirely new interface was not only a technological necessity for Palm to survive the brutal smart phone market but was also a sound financial move. The current Palm Treos are still running on the old Palm OS (renamed, Garnet OS) which Palm had sold-out to ACCESS software of Japan. This meant that Palm was actually paying ACCESS a royalty for every Palm Treo phone it had rolled-out since that software spin-off of 2006.

So, in June 5 of this year, Palm rolled-out the glorious Palm Pre with the Sprint Network as the sole U.S.  carrier. But, why the exclusivity to Sprint? Palm had all the right reasons to go with Sprint. The biggest carrier, AT&T, is not only the slowest of all U.S. carriers, but also their customer service is among the worst in a survey taken from all of the top corporations in the U.S considered. Second, the iPhone is already tethered to AT&T. AT&T’s signal is so poor (they had sold most of their bandwidth to other smaller GSM providers like T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, etc) that I really believe that the iPhone would be faster running with the Sprint Network. And lastly, Sprint is bound to become the first to have the next generation 4G signal nationwide in the U.S.

My verdict? Apple’s iPhone is more popular but the Palm Pre is way better smart phone. Mobile OSX  (later renamed as iOS) simply is just too bland as a phone interface. It’s clunky and all too familiar. I would like all the features of Snow Leopard on the iPhone but no..this is only a cell phone. I have all the Macs Apple had created so far, but no more OS X on a phone, please. Palm’s WebOS is like the 1984 Macintosh when PCs were still running DOS 5.0 or even 6.22. It’s always the thrill of something new we tech lovers always look forward to or long for — something different.

But what else is new? People has the herd-mentality. While the rest of the world are using PCs, I’m was using the Mac. While almost all people are using Facebook, I’m on LinkedIn. Blue-Ray? No, thanks, I’ve got HD OnDemand.

So, while others are pecking the on-screen keyboards on their iPhones, I’m simply sliding out a small, actual keyboard on my Palm Pre, sliding and flicking ‘card’ apps, faster and simpler. Another bonus is the free, built-in GPS with Sprint Navigation as well as the Sprint TV. Sprint’s signal is way,way better in most of the surrounding areas where I live than AT&T’s (my old Nokia’s previous mobile carrier).

With the Palm Pre and Sprint, I made the unpopular but sensible choice.

During our recent visit to Puerto Rico early this year, I brought along my Garmin NUVI 660 to test its accuracy as well as its dependability. Since we bought the unit about middle of 2007, it had been our constant travel companion for much of our trips around California and had been quite dependable on most occasions.

The Garmin NUVI 660 is the company’s best-selling unit for a quite a number of reasons. Its 4.3″ color screen seems to be the right size for any automobile without a built-in GPS navigation system. The included windshield attachment is not only durable but also well-designed.

Other features like hands-free calling via Bluetooth-compatible phones, MP3 player, FM transmitter, travel kit, picture viewer as well as storage expansion via the SD card slot makes it the hands-down choice among first-time automobile GPS buyers.

But it is the simple yet very functional user-interface that made Garmin’s NUVI series a winner. A few taps on the display screen and you’re ready to navigate. And, if your Bluetooth-compatible phone rings while navigating around, simply tap the phone icon and you’re ready to answer the call via the built-in microphone & speaker!

Except for new constructions and a few interior roads, the built-in North American map had been generally accurate. I updated -via DVD software – it only to the latest 2008 North American map when I discovered that our car was literally running through the waters of the Benicia Strait as we passed through the newly constructed Benicia-Martinez Toll Bridge – the gateway that connects I-680N to I-80N.

We had booked our rental car with Hertz weeks ahead for a six-day tour of this U.S. territory in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico’s main airport is in San Juan while our hotel was booked in the second-largest city in the islands – Ponce – which was a good 65 miles away. This would be a good initial test for the GPS unit in beautiful Puerto Rico.

I had already saved some of our intended destinations in the Favorites folder of the GPS unit. So, after getting our rental car – a mint-green 2008 Toyota Yaris – from the Hertz compound 2 hours after we landed in the Luis Munoz Marin Airport in San Juan, I hooked-up the unit unto the car’s windshield (unlike in CA – where I had to use a friction-mount –, attaching it on the windshield in PR is not illegal), tapped on a few icons as soon as it powered-up and on we headed to our hotel in Ponce!

It passed the initial test with only a minor quirk. While it guided us correctly to up to the main city, it failed to recognize the mostly one-way and narrow streets where our hotel was situated in downtown Ponce. I had to park the car a few blocks away and looked for our hotel…yes, with the GPS on my hands!

The following day, on our trip to the Arecibo Observatory, the GPS unit’s accuracy was at its lowest point. While it can accurately track the main highways, it kept telling us ‘to turn left -or, right- along Highway 111’ while we’re already traversing the steep, twisting ascents of the same highway!

We also had a lot of ‘dead-spots’ while cruising along a few mountain stretches. I thought that as long a you have a view of the open sky, your GPS unit can pick-up the satellite signals quite easily. Of course, just like in most densely populated cities like San Francisco it takes a while for the unit to pick-up the satellite signals, I was surprised that it could easily get a reading in the metropolis of San Juan.

One very useful feature of this gadget is the ability to track you where you are and from your location, get all the useful information – auto services, hotel, gas stations, food, etc – that you may need.

A good example would the time when we were in Plaza del Mercado (a public market) in Santurce, San Juan, PR and it was raining a lot. Looking for a taxi was extremely difficult as the place was a little off the beaten path.

Garmin NUVI 660 to the rescue.  I simply raised the unit’s antenna, tap the ‘Food, Lodging’, then, ‘Spell Name’ icon, entered, “Taxi” and voila…I got the names as well as phone numbers of the available taxicab companies in the nearby area. A quick call to the taxicab company of our choice and in a few minutes, a taxi appeared from nowhere to get us back to our hotel!

Overall, I was quite satisfied with the performance of the NUVI 660. It not only gave us peace of mind that we will get to where we want to go to but also for the other little things the device can offer you.

The Garmin NUVI 660 is a must-have device for travelers. Highly recommended.

Since the Palm Pilot debuted in the 1996 and established the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) market, many had no doubts that, one day, PDAs will approximate the power of a personal computer.

That time is here – thanks to rapid advances in flat-screen & wireless technologies, as well as in flash memory – and there’s no company that understands it better than the original creator, Palm, Inc.

Just put your hands in one of their newer models – be it the Treo 680 (or, its Windows Mobile counterpart, the Treo 750), the Palm T|X or, their only model in the “mobile manager” category, the LifeDrive – and you’ll be amazed at the things these little devices can do. These devices had come a long, long way from being the simple electronic organizers that keep your notes, addresses, memos and loaded with simple apps like date book, calculator, note taker and an expense tracker.

I was surprised at the wireless capabilities of these handhelds today. Using Hands High Software’s WiFile Pro (WiFile LT is bundled free in the Palm software CD), I was able to access either Mac or Windows networked files so easily (wow!…really, hassle-free), via the built-in WiFi capabilities of the T|X or the LifeDrive.

With their Treo series, Palm was able to address the needs of users who like to have a phone integrated with their PDAs. And with the LifeDrive, Palm is still trying its hardest to assuage notebook computer users to swap them out with this pocketable device instead.

How about in its core business segment – the handheld or, the original PDA market?  Palm realized that slowly and surely, the PDA market is undergoing convergence with telephony/wireless and that PDAs will soon integrate all the features of these mix. The Palm T|X is a case in point.

Except for a phone feature, the $299 Palm T|X packs in its 3.08″ x 4.76″ x .61″ shell, all the features of a decent Internet-capable home computer. Load it with the appropriate software & you’ll be surprised how easy it is to access your home (even your company’s) networked files, copy DVD movies (thanks to its SD/SDIO/MMC-capable slot as well as the fantastic storage capabilities of these stamp-sized memory devices) for viewing on your long commute or, simply browse the Web (WiFi’s built-in) for any information of your liking.

PQ Computing Inc’s $35 application, Pocket DVD Studio (for Palm/Pocket PC) can compress a 3-hour DVD movie into, approximately, a 368 MB .avi file – or, .wmv if you want . So, if you have a 2GB SD card in your Palm T|X, you can easily fit about 4 to 5 full-featured movies!

Some would say that for $299, you could buy a used, middle-end notebook & have much use for it than these “overpriced gadgets”. True. But, the last time I checked, these notebooks are still put into carrying bags & slung on shoulders. They still don’t fit inside my favorite shirt’s pocket.

Palm – and all handhelds in general – had indeed come a long way from being a nerd’s show-off gadget to an alternative device for people on the go who hates carrying that hefty notebook.

Apple System Software 1.x (1984) = Microsoft Windows 1.01, aka “Presentation Manager” (1986)
Apple System Software 2.x (1985) = Microsoft Windows 2.x aka, “Windows 286/386” (1987)
Apple System Software 3.x (1986) = Microsoft Windows 3.0 (1990)
Apple System Software 4.x (1987) = Microsoft Windows 3.1 (1992)
Apple System Software 5.x (1987) = Microsoft Windows 3.11, aka “Windows for Workgroups” (1994)
Apple System 6.x (1988) = Microsoft Windows 95 (1995)
Apple System 7.x (1991) = Microsoft Windows 95B/95C & Windows NT 4.0 (1996)
Apple Mac OS 7.5x (1995) = Microsoft Windows 98 (1998)
Apple Mac OS 7.6x (1996) = Microsoft Windows 98SE (1999)
Apple Mac OS 8.x (1997)
Apple Mac OS 8.1 (1997) = Microsoft Windows ME, aka “Millennium Edition” (2000)
Apple Mac OS 9.x (1999) = Microsoft’s Windows XP (2001)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.0, aka “Cheetah” (2001) = Microsoft Windows Vista – Home Basic Edition (2007)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.1, aka “Puma” (2001) = Microsoft Windows Vista – Home Premium Edition (2007)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.2, aka “Jaguar” (2002) = Microsoft Windows Vista – Business Edition (2006/2007)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.3, aka “Panther” (2003) = Microsoft Windows Vista – Ultimate Edition (2007)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.4, aka “Tiger” (2005) = Microsoft Windows Vista – Ultimate plus patches (2007 – ???)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.5, aka “Leopard” (for 2007 release ???) = next Windows release for 2011 ???

– – Kupitero

Here’s an update,  Dec. 2013 — almost 6 years after:

Apple Mac OS X – 10.5, aka “Leopard” (2007) =  MS Windows 7 (2009)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.6, aka “Snow Leopard” (2009) =  MS Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (2011)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.7, aka “Lion” (2011) =  MS Windows 8.0 (2012)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.8, aka “Mountain Lion” (2012) =  MS Windows 8.1 aka “Windows Blue” (2013)
Apple’s Mac OS X – 10.9, aka “Mavericks” (2013) =  MS Windows 8.1 with Service Pack 1 ???? (20??)
Apple’s Mac OS XI – 11.0 , aka “???” (for 2015 release???) =  MS Windows 8.2 (for 2015 or 2016)???

– – Kupitero

Here’s another update,  Nov. 2016 — almost 9 years after the initial post:

Apple Mac OS X – 10.5, aka “Leopard” (2007) =  MS Windows 7 (2009)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.6, aka “Snow Leopard” (2009) =  MS Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (2011)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.7, aka “Lion” (2011) =  MS Windows 8.0 (2012)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.8, aka “Mountain Lion” (2012) =  MS Windows 8.1 aka “Windows Blue” (2013)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.9, aka “Mavericks” (2013) =  MS Windows 8.1 with Update  (2014)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.10, aka “Yosemite” (2014) = MS Windows 8.1 with Update & Bing (2014)
Apple Mac OS X – 10.11, aka “El Capitan” (2015) = MS Windows 10 Official Release
Apple Mac OS Sierra – 10.12 aka “Sierra” (2016) = MS Windows 10 with 1st Anniversary Update (2016)

– – Kupitero

Here’s another update,  July 2022 — almost 15 years after the initial post:

Apple Mac OS X – 10.11, aka “El Capitan” (2015) = MS Windows 10 Official Release
Apple Mac OS Sierra – 10.12 (2016) = MS Windows 10 1st Anniversary Update  (2016)
Apple Mac OS High Sierra – 10.13 (2017) = MS Windows 10 Creator’s Updates (1703/1709)
Apple Mac OS Mojave – 10.14 (2018) = MS Windows 10 April/Oct. 2018 Updates (1803/1809)
Apple Mac OS Catalina – 10.15 (2019) = MS Windows 10 May/Nov. 2019 Updates (1903/1909)
Apple Mac OS Big Sur – 10.16 (2020) = MS Windows 10 May/Oct. 2020 Updates (2004/20H2)
Apple Mac OS Monterey – 10.17 (2021) = MS Windows 11 (aka “Sun Valley“) and Windows 10 May/Nov. 2021 Updates (21H1/21H2)

Apple Mac OS Ventura – 10.18 (2022) = MS Windows 11 Update???

–– Kupitero

The danger of any hardware malfunction always lurk behind the mind of a sysop, web-host or any computer owner who relies on his equipment for day-to-day operations.

In the ever fast-changing world of Mac/PC hardware, the kind of devices & media to back-up your data could be that so various and diverse already, that they could now fill-up a standard, two-car, American garage.

All sorts of tape drives (Bernoulli, Travan, etc), CD-ROMS, DVD-ROMS, microfilms, microfiche, ZIP drives, assorted variations/incarnations of the hard drive & diskette drive, DATs and other lesser-known media or brands that are now probably buried deep in selected “e-waste” landfills in the U.S.  Or, more probably, choking the already-polluted streets & waterways of China, Africa, India & most Far East countries – – according to Greenpeace, these are where advanced countries, export (read as: dump) their obsolete electronics & medical equipments. Most of them, obviously, in the pretext of aid.

It’s good to know, however, that these electronic – now, marvels, tomorrow, junks – back-up units are getting smaller in sizes. The way they connect to computers played a big factor for their physical diminution.

Gone were the bulky, interface-standards of yesteryear: serial, parallel and SCSI, as well as various modifications of them that resulted in proprietary standards – e.g., MiniDIN, ADB, HP-IB, Sun-SCSI – that further confused an already-confused user base in the glory days of the personal computers.

Today, there are basically two standard formats to hook-up these small, external back-up units: the USB and FireWire. Their cables are much thinner & lighter without sacrificing data-transfer speed. In fact, they are way much faster than their predecessors.

From my early years of using an Apple II (where using a hard drive – aka: “Winchester” drive – was then a luxury) with its glorious, 140KB, 5-1/4 floppy disk drive backing up my Magic Window (a word-processing software) & VisiCalc (the very first spreadsheet software) files.

I had now come a long way – 26 years later – to using Western Digital’s external 500GB MyBook (with both FireWire & USB interface) and Shirt Pocket’s very popular back-up software called “SuperDuper!” – to mimic my entire PowerMac G5’s hard drive!

Is that progress? Or, is life, – like electronics – just a perpetual state of junk?

More of the same story…10 to 20 years later???

Macs have that irresistible charm when they come out with new features. I must admit that I don’t get the same feeling when I buy my new accessories or upgrades for my PC. It might be due to the fact that it’s both new software and hardware you get when you buy a new Mac.

It was only a few months after Apple announced that they’ll be saying goodbye to Motorola’s Power PC processor (will that make those G5 iMacs collectibles?), when they officially released in Jan 10, 2006 (but will be available in Apple Stores in the U.S. starting Jan 17, 2006), the iMac with Intel’s Core Duo processor.

Except for this new CPU (at either 1.83 or 2.0 GHz) and a slew of new software, the 2006 Intel-powered iMacs differ only from the revamped G5 iMac (with the remote control) that Apple released in mid-2005, by taking advantage of what the new processor can offer: faster bus speed, bigger L2 cache, and faster memory/graphics bus speeds. Speed, speed and more speed was the end result of the shift to Intel processors. And, maybe, cool-up things a bit inside these marvelous machines.

 Opening the new iMac with Intel Core Duo (as well as the iMac G5 w/ built-in iSight) is not as easy anymore unlike the original versions with the G5 chips. Apple had replaced the screws on the bottom grill with Torx (T8) ones. And, where usually the back cover slips easily away from the other half of the case to reveal the guts, this is no longer the situation today. The entire components including the LCD are still attached to the plastic back cover after removing all the screws.

Everything seems to have remained the same like the built-in iSight camera, the MightyMouse, the Apple Remote, built-in Bluetooth/AirPort, screen sizes and resolutions, the ports – with the exception of a new mini-DVI video connector– as well as the physical dimensions of the unit and yes, even the prices.

But perhaps, it’s the new software included what makes any true-blue Mac lovers drool about these new Intel-powered iMacs. It’s no secret that Microsoft just simply tweaks any new Apple software innovation and incorporates them in their new Windows version releases. What up-coming features Windows Vista will offer — ho-hum, Mac users had probably saw them already in the Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) released way back in 2002.

The new Intel-based iMacs will run Mac OS X Tiger version 10.4.4 (the port of the latest OS X Tiger version 10.4.3 on the G5 iMac to accommodate the Intel processor), and by bundling  iLife 2006, Apple is hoping to lure more technophiles to Apple’s ecosystem by giving away these new software currently being offered only as ‘add-ons’ by the PC makers ‘for the rest of them.’ Features like podcasting & iChat interview recording (in GarageBand 3.0), ‘photo-casting’ (in iPhoto 6), Magic iDVD (in iDVD 6) and the new app on the block – iWeb.

iWeb is Apple’s answer to the podcasting and blogging fad – – fads that all big content providers like Google and Yahoo are all hoping to become part of the mainstream Internet.  Much the same way when having an iPod was only a fad. It had become so successful that it’s now a huge slice of the PC industry pie.

Also, be very careful not to confuse the hole between these screws as yet another screw – – it’s the ambient-light sensor. This hole is the next one after the leftmost screw, when your iMac is laying face down (and the word ‘iMac’ at the back cover, is facing you). Poking a screwdriver/Torx driver in it may crack the delicate protective cover.

FrontRow still needs an either a hardware or software upgrade to make it work seamlessly with the remote control. There were just too many occasions when you have to push the controls on the remote several times to switch modes – specially from iTunes to iPhoto. I noted a bug when you’re watching a DVD with a “Resume” sub-menu — clicking on the Play button on the remote won’t resume the movie.

By releasing two (2) new hardware – the Intel-powered iMac & a similarly Intel-powered, MacBook – very early in the year, they will surely make new PC consumers (and folks who will upgrade their outdated computers) take a closer look on these new Apple lineup before they finally decide on their purchases.

And, by giving more and more away on what usually were separate products, Apple hopes that it will reap the rewards later on – – all from creating new innovations that consumers can’t resist.

—notes:

See related 2004 blog on the original G5 iMac released the same year here

My nephew, Gio, flew in from Virginia with a PSP on hand. He was watching a movie on the gadget’s small yet crisp TFT screen (4.3 inch, 16:9 widescreen at 480 x 272 pixel and 16.77 million colors) via a UMD (Universal Media Disc) video inserted on the drive.

The $250 handheld gaming console also has USB 2.0, an infra-red (IrDA) port, a slot for a Memory Stick PRO Duo (another Sony-proprietary format that looks like a copy of the SD (Secure Digital) card) and, interestingly, IEEE 802.11b or Wi-Fi at 11 Mbps. Note that Bluetooth was not built-in.

Curiously, the device also sports an interface that looks like a copy of Apple’s Mac OS X, sans the dock. Indeed, “Sony loves to copy Apple products to death,” as Steve Jobs (Apple’s CEO) is wont to say.

Although WiFi was built-in, the PSP’s OS lacked a browser. Connectivity was included to, basically, enable the device to have firmware updates. Configuring the unit to hook-up to the wireless network was relatively easy except for the entry of all the information required. You must be a savvy ‘text’-er (aka, SMS) to breeze through any data-entry process on the PSP.

But, the lack of a browser on the PSP is not a deterrent for veteran netheads. Using the game called “Wipeout Pure” (also in UMD format) and the old web server trick of ‘DNS-spoofing,’…yes, you can use the PSP for ‘simple’ web surfing.

Don’t expect web pages to appear in all its glory on the device’s small yet impressive TFT screen. Most of the standards in the ever-changing world of the Web are not yet supported in the browser inside “Wipeout Pure”. These, plus the use of the controls in the PSP to act as your keyboard make web-browsing on the PSP very cumbersome.

It will not take long for Sony (as well as, hackers) to integrate a built-in browser in the OS via their updates. A small keyboard can truly help as well for easier web access.
But, hey, the PSP was primarily created to be a nifty portable gaming device and not as a notebook or some sort of a ‘web-pad’. Having the capability to sniff-out free WiFi hotspots built-in on the unit makes the PSP an attractive alternative to carrying that bulky laptop!

UPDATE: Yesterday, Aug. 24, 2005, almost two months after this original posting – Sony officially announced the inclusion of a web browser in the OS via a software update.
PSP owners no longer have to purchase ‘Wipeout Pure’ just to surf the Web!

Ever since I got a $5.40 bill from Cingular for using their GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network for ONLY about two (2) minutes-to access the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s website (www.inq7.net)- using my old but trusty Treo 600, I had long been aching to have WiFi access on this gadget.

Using GPRS for web browsing isn’t just the way to go these days. It maybe convenient for e-mail and SMS (where our friendly phone companies charge very minimal fees), but GPRS for web access is not only slow compared to WiFi but it is also painfully expensive (Well, at least, here in the U.S. Someone informed me that Telefonica Movistar, for sometime, offered data service via GPRS in Mexico for free). The only advantage of GPRS over WiFi is that the former goes together wherever your phone signal is available. The latter…well, you’re constantly in the lookout for ‘open’ WiFi networks or, the nearest Starbucks or Borders.

The Treo 600 as well as the newer 650 model didn’t come with built-in WiFi. Maybe, PalmOne wants you to also get their Tungsten C or any of their new PDAs that can use an SDIO WiFi card like the Zire 72. Since free WiFi hotspots had been sprouting like mushrooms all over the world in the past two years, why not take advantage of them?

Treo 650 users had been buzzing for the last 3 months now with the release of a hack for the SDIO WiFi card that PalmOne specially designed for the Tungsten T2, T5 and the Zire 72. The SD WiFi card sells for US$129 at the PalmOne Store while the hack is available at www.uneasysilence.com

In this picture comes in Enfora, Inc. – a Texas-based company that had been involved in mobile computing solutions since 1999. Last March 10, 2005 they issued a press release on their website stating that they will offer a ‘WiFi-sled’ for both the Treo 600 and 650. This is very good news for Treo users that had long been dreaming to have WiFi access on their beloved devices.

The last company that tried to address this shortcoming by PalmOne was SanDisk. They were able to come out with an SD (Secure Digital) WiFi card for the Pocket

PC platform but failed to deliver one for the Palm OS platform –specifically, for the very popular Treo 600 due to power constraints.

WiFi cards are, indeed, power hogs. Even most notebooks with WiFi cards built-in or connected via the PC Card slots and are in use, can have their power juice run down quickly compared to ones not actively using their WiFi cards.

What’s promising about Enfora’s approach is that, the ‘WiFi sled’ is a device in itself where the Treo 600/650 slips in. Hence, it has its own power source and will also charge the Treo as well. But how the device will behave in wireless data mode using WiFi is a big question. Can a call comes in while web surfing? Will other built-in apps on Palm OS 5.x work well with the bundled software?

But, just like ‘vaporware’, a press release is a great way to whet the appetite of people eagerly waiting to lay their hands on the actual device. Whether Enfora (www.enfora.com) can actually deliver these products in the market before PalmOne finally comes up with yet another new version of the Treo with built-in WiFi, remains to be seen.

12/11/2005 addendum:

In the first week of September 2005, the WiFi sled for both the Treo 600 and 650 became available to the general public by showing up in retail store shelves like CompUSA as well as online stores.

At US$519 (discounted price at that), the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra PCI-X video card costs more than the new Mac mini from Apple. What??? A $519 video card??? Yup, and that’s just the start of the upgrade path to take full advantage of the features of this hot, new graphics board.

 

Why buy it? Once upon a time, when games and video displays were running side by side with 8-bit or 16-bit microprocessors, simple ISA video cards with 128K of memory were more than enough. But during those days, the newer flavors (or, ‘up-comers’) back then – the VLB (VESA Local Bus) video cards with either 256KB, 512 KB or even a hefty 1 MB of VRAM-, will cost as much as these new PCI-Express video cards that I’m referring to.

People bought VLB video cards then like they will buy these new PCI-Express video cards now: so that they can play the latest and greatest video games or manipulate digital images at speeds unheard of before.

In the realm of personal computing, where time seems to be measured in gigaflops, the distant past will most likely be only 3 or 4 years ago and where the past 10 or 20 yrs will be already be akin to living in the last century or so.

At the heart of this new video card ‘revolution’ is the game called “Doom 3”. Doom 3 requires massive computational speed such that sheer CPU power is not enough. You have to have a video card that will take off as much load from the CPU and hardware memory and process those video images and spew them off your video monitor in blazing frames per second to give our eyes better “candies”. The faster the frame rate at higher resolutions, the better the video card.

In this aspect, come in these new PCI-Express video cards that are beginning to trickle in the mainstream graphics market. ATI and Nvidia are the major players in the graphics industry today and their products are what avid gamers and graphic designers are snapping-up these days. One MUST have the proper motherboard that support PCI-Express to use any brand of these new PCI-X graphics cards.

Why PCI-Express and not AGP? PCI-X – as it is commonly termed today and was known as “3GIO” a while back – is the latest and greatest video interface today. AGP and its 8X incarnation had been around for awhile since taking the crown away from PCI when the initial Pentium II processors appeared in the late 90s. It promises almost 4 times the bandwidth as AGP 8X using the same graphics chipset. Some people are saying that there is hardly any difference, performance-wise, of video cards with the AGP 8X or the PCI-X interface, using the same graphics chipset.

But, history will tell us that, newer but industry-accepted and adapted technologies will always perform better because of the new features that will come up for them in the years to come…until a new and better standard will arise and replace it — and the cycle continues.

For now, with support for as high as 2048 x 1536 (double that of today’s very common 1024 x 768 flat-panel resolution) at 16.7 million colors, SLI-ready and featuring the new TwinView architecture, this new video card will enable you to play the next generation of video games and more than enough to handle your daily Adobe, Macromedia or AutoCad routines.

 

 

What’s more, its hefty 256MB of GDDR3 memory, DVI-I (digital), DB-15 SVGA (analog) and single S-Video outputs are sufficient enough to drive all those extra monitor and TV at home or office –all at the same time!

For game fanatics and video card nuts..happy days are yet to come!!!