But will it park my Jetsonmobile?
 

Cool. Things like this make me wish I lived in DC.

The arrival of the motorized parking garage.

Internet Phones
 

Does anyone have experience with internet phones? The monthly cost is very low, but I am concerned the quality of the voice transmission is sub par.

Thanks in advance.

NYIE

Internet Phones
 

There was an article evaluating VoIP in the NY Times a few weeks ago. It may be available online or on Lexis. The conclusions were reasonably favorable for Vonage, IIRC, but not others, and even Vonage had some problems that didn't please them. It sounded to me like something worth waiting a few more months to develop.

Internet Phones
 

And there was another one yesterday, in the Circuits section.

Hi def goes small
 

Six Japan broadcasters agree on digital TV standard for cellphones

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's six major television networks said they have agreed on a terrestrial digital standard aimed at beaming high-quality TV images to mobile phones, starting March 2006.
"I think if we decide to make this a business, we will have to make sure our phones are compatible with this standard," said a spokeswoman for NTT DoCoMo Inc., the nation's largest operator with some 45.5 million subscribers.

Vodafone is the only cellphone operator in Japan to offer a handset model equipped with analog TV tuners, which it launched last October.
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com...lt-290x384.jpg http://news.yahoo.com/?tmpl=story&ci...com_technology

Can Hi Def phones be far behind?

Sony announces 1 Terabyte DVR with seven tuners. That's enough for 50 hours of HDTV content. Sadly, it will be sold only in Japan, which apparently is one place on Earth where the laws of physics apparently permit seven watchable television programs to air at the same time.

ETA: On reflection, four of those are probably anime porn. Which doesn't really change much about my post, I realize.

HD update
 

So we installed the HD dish a couple of weeks ago. Fairly painless. Picked up the 55" plasma yesterday. Stand is on order. HDTivo is on order and will ship in freakin July. So now I have this expensive TV set sitting on the floor of my living room in a box. When I get the HD Tivo, I will give an update as to how the plasma looks.

And did we ever discuss Voom? Worth it? Not worth it? Anyone?

voom tv

Powered small speakers
 

I'm looking to buy some small (bookshelf sized) speakers. Powered. Under (or about) $100. I know I'm not getting audiophile quality, but I don't need much for a small room this will be used in.

Recs?

I was leaning towards either the Cambridge Soundworks Soundworks
or the JBL Creatures .

Any experience with these or others?

And please don't say "for just a little bit more money you could get . . . " I know I could. But I don't want to pay a lot when I need only a little.

Thanks.

Powered small speakers
 

I can't find them on the website, so I'm not sure if they make them anymore, but Bose had a pair of speakers called "roommate" that were powered. I had them back in college and they worked well for a dorm room. I still have the pair, though I think they need to be rewired. You may troll around e-bay and see if there are any available.

Powered small speakers
 

I've heard good things about the JBL creatures. FYI, Harman Audio (JBL's parent) has a huge store on ebay . You may be able to get them cheaper than MSRP.

Powered small speakers
 

I have the JBL creatures attached to my Powerbook in my home office. Sometimes I listen to iTunes or a CD. I am very satisfied with them.

Powered small speakers
 

Thanks, and you too, AdL. I've ordered a set of the Creatures. I'll report back soon f anyone cares.

Powered small speakers
 

Arrived very quickly from buy.com. (Ordered thurs. night with free shipping, est. 7-9 days). Arrived Monday. Wow.

Set up last night. Sound pretty good. Solid bass; easy set up. I'll test more with a greater variety of music, but for $75 they seem to fit the bill quite capably.

Directv/ HD tivo unit
 

Anyone buy one of these yet? I am tempted, but not sure if I want to part with almost a grand to get it. Maybe it will go down around Christmas? In any event, it is about time they made it!

Flanders

"Behold the amazing union of High-Definition technology and Digital Video Recording technology – the DIRECTV® HD DVR.

Now you can record and play back High-Definition programming at your convenience. Get the coolest features of a DIRECTV DVR mixed with nifty new touches, all packed into a monster 250GB hard drive. Nothing else on the market compares. Then again, what else do you expect from DIRECTV?

At just $999 with an annual programming commitment, there's already a big demand for this technological breakthrough, so click on the DEALER LOCATOR button and contact your nearest retailer to check availability."

Directv/ HD tivo unit
 

But it. It's worth every penny. The menu system runs slower than the other Tivo boxes we've had (I think we've had 5 altogether). But you get 200 hours of programming or 30 hours of HD. You shouldn't need more than that. Plus you can program the "peanut" to switch from 480p to 720p to 1080i right from the remote.

We had to wait a month to actually get it, but it was totally worth it.

Cable v. Satellite
 

I know, I know, beating a dead horse, but with our upcoming move, I have to make a choice. I presently have comcast digital cable and it is great, save for the $75 I pay thone jackals every month. DirecTV sounds like a nice alternative, and I like that I can get a DirecTiVo unit.

Still, I have 2 major concerns:

1 - I have to hang that ugly dish on the front of my beautiful south-facing house

2 - I have heard feedback about serious problems with rain and/or snow

For those who have used DirecTV and live in the North East (or anywhere else that gets rain and snow), what is your experience with signal quality in bad weather?

Re No. 1, I guess I will just have to get over it...

Cable v. Satellite
 

I live in Portland. It rains a little bit here. We also just had our biggest snow winter in recent memory. No problems at all with the DirectTV. I've been very, very pleased.

Cable v. Satellite
 

Not qualified to speak to 2, but as to 1 --- the installer put my dish on a part of my house I completely would not have figured --- the eaves of the north side. The dish's field of vision is shooting up over the ridgeline of the roof at about 40°. I assumed he'd have to mount it on my chimney; I was wrong. As it turns out, it was because this was the easiest place for the (lazy) installer to run the coax,* but it also happened to be less conspicuous than I'd feared. If your roof pitch is less than about 40°, you might be able to shoot the satellites from the back side of your house.

*Universal experience of people on the tivocommunity.com boards is that DirecTV installers are like children --- you must lead them with a firm hand to keep them from doing whatever is easiest.

Cable v. Satellite
 

My roof is basically flat (it's an ooooold row house/brownstone in the city), and the front of the house faces south. I had not thought about the chimney, but then the question of where to run the coax becomes an issue. Also, it puts a kink in my dreams of a roof deck. Hell, maybe I should install the roof deck then attach the dish to the deck...

Cable v. Satellite
 

Installing the dish on a vertical surface is always advisable, as it's easier to waterproof. As for the roof deck, there are loads of apartment-dwelling diehards on the tivocommunity boards that have bolted the dish to a pole stuck into a 5 gal. bucket of concrete. Of course, these fellows are pasty-faced Gollumesque nerds who could think of no better use for a balcony or sundeck.

Cable v. Satellite
 

realistically, the roof deck is a couple of years away, so I think that a chimney installation is the best way to do it. I refuse to hang the thing off of a window sill. The question then becomes how to bring the cable into the house?

How much work does "standard professional installation" usually entail? How much will they actually do?

Cable v. Satellite
 

They will generally not fish cable through any interior walls. They will bolt and aim the dish where (1) you express a preference that it be located and (2) has clear view of the Southern sky, and then drape the coax to the exterior wall nearest the install, drilling a hole and fishing the raw wire through. (Remember --- for a DirecTivo, you need two coax feeds from the dish or multiswitch for every DTivo.) If you're lucky, they'll foam the hole they've drilled.

People who are picky about wire runs and outlet boxes are well advised to run their own coax runs to the interior locations before the installer arrives, and then tell him "Good news --- just tie into what I've already done!"

There are "hero" stories of installers who go the extra mile, but let's face it --- there is no repeat business in that line of work, and no incentive to do anything special.

Cable v. Satellite
 

Your professional installation will greatly depend on the guy that they send out. Our first guy sucked. Second guy knew a whole lot more about running cable and life in general. If the house has had cable in the past, they can just tie into the existing cable box on the outside (or inside) of your house. If the lines are old (old RG5) you may experience some tranmission and picture problems. Use as much RG6 as you can get away with.

They can put the dish on any part of the roof that you want, just figure that you need a clear shot pointing toward Phoenix. They'll usually pick the spot nearest the cable tap.

As for snow- I worked in a retail establishment during law school up in Seattle during one of the worst snow storms ever. We lost power and cable. When the power came back, the only signal we could get was off the Directv. The Dish Network dish had issues and cable took about a week to get back. We lost signal periodically, but not bad considering.

Buy an HD dish now, and you won't have to upgrade later. Buy the one with 3 LNBs and have them run all the lines they can to the rooms you will eventually use.

Another DirecTV question
 

How does DirecTV handle pay per view? I really dig that comcast cable's In Demand features, which allow you to watch PPV movies and shows whenever you want, and then control those programs like a DVR. Does DirecTV have anything similar?

Another DirecTV question
 

Do you live in a cave? DirecTV invented on-demand pay per view.
Well, OK, I don't know if they actually invented it, but were one of the first pioneers of it. They have some pretty good freeview stuff as well. I think there are about 30 channels of pay-per-view with assorted movies repeated every half to one hour, so if you miss it at 8 you can catch it at 9. Most of the new releases are pay once, watch all day. The DVR function allows you to record it whenever and watch it whenever. Peridically they give you a voucher for a free movie.

Most of the movies are in Dolby Digital. Unfortunately there are only a few HD channels available, but that's going to change later this year (we'll see). And Football. Football in HD is going to rock!

Another DirecTV question
 

Nice. I think this just about settles it...

New Playstation announced
 

Sony to launch its new Playstation in March 2005

Article also has a photo of the new handheld Playstation Gameboy fighter.

Cellphone recommendations?
 

Gadget people, I call on you for help.

I am going to have to replace my cellphone, as it has started boycotting some numbers (such as 1) - apparently in protest against having been dropped too many times.

Anyone have one that s/he particularly likes/dislikes? In particular, is it worth spending the extra $$ for a Treo?

I currently have a seriously traumatized Nokia and a Palm Vx, which so far has held up better than the phone (though the touch-screen grows less sensitive by the day). Deadly Viper Assassin life is hard on personal electronics. On a related point, which assassin are you? http://www.greatestjournal.com/quiz.bml?Q=183 )

Re carriers - I'm on AT&T, but feel zero allegiance to them and have no long-term contract. I used to be on Sprint and consequently loathe them; if their customer service sucks less these days, though, I could be persuaded to give them a second chance.



Thanks in advance.

Cellphone recommendations?
 

I have Verizon and it's good. Do you really need a Treo/Palm thingie?

Do not get LG phones unless you really don't need to make or receive calls. I would stic to basic motorola phones.

You can always buy a used phone on Ebay that is compatible with your service and configure it yourself.

Cellphone recommendations?
 

One more question: where are you? I ask only because it makes a difference with regard to coverage.

Cellphone recommendations?
 

Well, I figured that if I'm looking at replacing both my PDA and my phone, it made sense to consider the Treo. I haven't priced it - does it cost more than buying both separately?

What is an LG phone?

Cellphone recommendations?
 

SF Bay Area.

Cellphone recommendations?
 

LG is the brand name. Husband bought a Samsung even though the guy at Verizon was seriously sold on the LG. He called me on it and the voice quality is quite bad. Very breathy (you sound like an obscene caller) and you sound like you're in a cave. The Samsung had better voice quality (and a color screen) but the color screen really sucks the juice out of the battery. His standby time is about a day and a half.

I have a Motorola flip (like Tony Soprano used to have) and the voice quality is even better than the Samsung - and I have AT&T. Coverage varies quite a bit depending on your area. Here, Verizon has way better coverage, but in SoCal and Washington the AT&T has way better coverage.

Cellphone recommendations?
 

Okay, except for the Bay Area thingie, you are my SP. Oh, and I guess my Nokia and Vx are still plugging along okay. But I am seriously considering getting the Treo when it's time for me to upgrade both, probably in 6-12 months. I use my Palm a lot and my phone less, but I like the idea of reducing my gadget quotient.

If you end up getting a non-PDA phone, a friend really really really likes her Samsung camera flip-phone. It seems really solidly made, and the pictures show up beautifully on the color screen.

And for non-phone PDAs, my husband just got a new Palm (not the nicest one, but it has a color screen and some nifty features), and I have serious gadget envy.

tm

Cellphone recommendations?
 

OK, then I recommend Cingular or Verizon. The former uses CDMA (a standard developed by Qualcomm, and used in very few places other than the US) Cingular uses GSM (the cell phone standard in most of the world). Both offer pretty comparable coverage in the Bay Area. I am partial to Cingular's GSM network (I have been a Cingular subscriber here in Philadelphia for several years now) and have used it in the Bay Area on several occasions, without incident, in San Francisco and up into Marin.

If you are a gadget head, I recommend going with Cingular/GSM, as there are much cooler phones and you can change handsets on a whim simply by taking the little chip (called a SIM card) out of one and putting it in the other. Also, GSM phones tend to have better power mananegement, so the batteries tend to last longer when compared to comparable CDMA phones.

If you are going to be traveling to remote and/or rural areas, go with CDMS/Verizon, as their handsets still have analog (a very old technology), which will be the only networks you will find in many rural areas. GSM is in some rural areas (and getting better every day) but rural coverage si still better with an analog-capable phone (there are currently no GSM phones that can transmit on analog).

As far as comparing the various handset manufacturers, I have owned nokia, motorola, and siemens. All have advantages and disadvantages. I have deliberately stayed away from samsung, lg and SonyEricsson, as those manufacturers generally have poor RF (radio frequency) handling (i.e. they have relatively poor reception, when compared to other manufacturers' handsets). In my opinion, Nokia has the best UI and software and the best battery life. Siemens has interesting designs and great features, with middling RF. Motorola phones, in my experience, are bulletproof, and motorola is known in the industry as having the best RF.

The new treo 600 is a great handset, though it is too big for my tastes (I carry my phone in my front pocket). It's got middle-of-the-road RF, but it's got a TON of features (though it lacks bluetooth). If you really want/need a convergence device, it's the best one made to date.

If I were to recommend one handset, I would point you toward to the Motorola v600, which works on Cingular's GSM network. Full disclosure, I use this handset, and I love it. It's small, it's got an excellent color screen and a nice camera; it's got a calendar and address book; and, as a terrific bonus, it has bluetooth. It's also got the best RF of any handset I have ever used. Also, it is a quad band GSM phone, so you can use is in any market, anywhere in the world, where GSM is in use.

Verizon is getting a very similar handset called the v710. I've never used it, but the stats are very similar to the v600.

I know this post is long, but I hope it helps. Feel free to pm me if you have any other questions.

Cellphone recommendations?
 

Wow. That is extremely helpful. I will try to digest it and then see what questions I have. Thanks a mil.

Cellphone recommendations?
 

GSM rollout for AT&T has been painfully slow. Don't know about Cingular - maybe after the merger there will be better coverage. As it stands, GSM coverage is still spotty here, I have not yet made the migration. My buddies in the business are, for the most part, not happy with the speed of the rollout - it is getting better, but is not good. Yet. FYI.

Cellphone recommendations?
 

ATT stopped all network improvements with the announcement of the merger. Once the merger goes through, I suspect that the resulting coverage will be much better. Cingular will be able to take advantage of the 850 mhz licenses that ATT owns, which will allow for far better building penetration.

In Philadelphia the control channel (where the phone sits on standby) is on 850 mhz, and I have full bars even deep inside the tallest office buildings. It's not bad at all.

As an aside, I suggest the HowardForums if you are looking for a great resource for wirless-related topics. They have boards for all of the major handset manufacturers, as well as most of the carriers in North America (some in Europe as well).

Cellphone recommendations?
 

Have they really? Wouldn't the merger agreement contain some "continue/maintain current business" clause (or whatever the corporates call it)? As an antitrust lawyer, I'd be troubled by conduct otherwise.

As for AT&T, I'm on them and reupped (actually moved to the GSM service) in exchange for a new Sony-Ericsson T637. Happy with it so far, but I'm getting used to the interface. My biggest complaint (and it's one others have made about it) is that it seems like all the buttons are rigged to create a connection to mMode, AT&T's data/web plan, which is itself not bad but subjects one to sizable data charges if one isn't careful.

the 637 is a candy-bar style if you prefer that to a flip. That means you sacrifice the "beam me up" capabilities that alex possesses. Alas.