One Man's Blog » Must Haves

Use A Diver’s Pad in the Shower to Make Notes!

John P. — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:04:46 +0000

I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I’m in the shower it seems like I’m always coming up with good ideas – or at least thinking of things that I need to do. The problem is, I’ll think of five things… but by the time I’m done I can only remember two!

Well, I was watching a show with some divers in it when one wrote on a notepad to communicate with another and it hit me! That is how we can make notes in the shower! So, I ordered a large underwater dive slate from Amazon and gave it a try. Guess what… it’s perfect!

You can just use a normal pencil and eraser on the pad, which works out very nicely. I would also advise purchasing a small suction cup with a hook on it so that you can attach it to your shower wall and leave it hanging there.

So if you have this same problem, now you’ve got a solution for under $10. Enjoy! Oh, and please let me know how it works out for you if you actually buy one…

New Staple-less Staplers!

John P. — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:52:20 +0000

You know, I’ve always been bothered by the fact that if I want to actually attach 10 sheets of paper together I need to spend like .001$ on a staple to make that happen. But now my dreams have been answered!

Someone has spent untold numbers of hours engineering this little plastic marvel which will apparently do away with all the inefficiency of an actual stapler and instead punch some sort of little slit out of a stack of pages and then fold it back over through it’s self. Surely this will save the environment, money, and probably mankind itself.

So long as you don’t need to attach more than about 6 pages. Then it’s right out. Here is a video that shows you exactly how it works. Enjoy.

Get em here.

Holiday Season Deal Watching Web Sites

John P. — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:45:56 +0000

Hey folks, this season there are going to be some serious deals to be had if you’ve got the spare cash to take advantage of them. But don’t run all over town hunting down those damned Black Friday deals! First of all, they never have the item you went for in stock, and secondly… just remember all those lines and whiny people!

Instead, prepare by doing your research online, and keep an eye on the following Web sites to see all the hottest deals being offered. The key is to act quickly, because a lot of these deals will disappear quickly.

First of all, if you absolutely insist on participating in Black Friday, here are a couple of sites that will show you all of the ads that retailers are putting out. This can at least help you plan your attack, even if you have to get up at 4am to do it.

In addition to Black Friday, you can shop the online equivalent, Cyber Monday:

In addition to all of those sites, here are a few to keep an eye out for on Cyber Monday. It’s like these guys are giving free money!

Newegg Cyber Monday Deals

20% Cashback when you pay with Paypal

Best Buy Cyber Monday Deals

12% off in-store coupon

Circuit City Cyber Monday Deals

Extra 10% off $249

Overstock Cyber Monday Deals

13% off any order + Free shipping

Google Checkout

Just create an account, pay with it, and get cash!

$10 off on orders over $30
$20 off $50
$10 sign up Bonus

If anyone finds any really killer deals please drop a comment below because I’m always on the lookout myself!

Sharp 42″ 1080p HDTV is $799 at Dell With Free Shipping!

John P. — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:12:43 +0000

Two years ago I paid $2,000 for the predecessor to the Sharp 42″ HDTV that Dell currently has on sale for $799. If you’ve been waiting for a good deal to purchase a new TV for yourself, this is the best deal you’re going to find this season on a kick ass TV.

The Sharp 42″ AQUOS Model: LC42SB45U television features:

1920 x 1080 resolution – Full 1080p!
6.5ms response time
500 nits brightness
178-degree H/V viewing angle
8000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
3 HDMI Inputs

This TV is currently $1,000 on Amazon, and $1,099 at Best Buy.

So, head on over to Dell and pick one up now before they are all gone. Hey Pop! This means you!

EDIT: Just discovered that you can also get it from Costco Online for the same price, but a little more shipping. Might be worth it to have the abiltiy to return it to a local Costco if you’re a member. Plus for Executive members you’d get your 2% back at the end of the year…

If You See Me Running, Try To Keep Up

John P. — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:25:51 +0000

I’ve really got to get me one of these T-shirts!

Woopra Featured on GeekBrief

John P. — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:18:48 +0000

Folks. I have a confession to make. I’ve been secretly cheating on all of you for some time now. Oh, and to make matters worse, I’m proud of it.

Yes, you already know that a few months ago I joined Layered Technologies as the Chief Marketing Officer… but I’ve got another on the side. And she’s called Woopra. I’ve been secretly working with Elie Khoury and Jad Younan on this project, and we just unveiled it yesterday at WordCamp, making Beta accounts available for the first time for all participants.

What can I tell you about Woopra? She’s hot, smooth, smart, and sexy. But don’t take my word for it… Here is what Cali from GeekBrief had to say after just a few minutes with Woopra.

So… Do you want a taste of Woopra? It’s in VERY limited beta right now, but I will send invitations to track one Web site over to my regular readers… so if you want to give it a try, drop a comment below. You need to be a registered user on my blog, or an e-mail subscriber so that I can know that you’ve actually been a reader for a while in order to qualify. (Regular known commenters qualify too.)

If you haven’t been a long time reader, but you go ahead and subscribe via e-mail with a promise to stick around, I’ll consider handing out additional invites. :-) For anyone else, you can register on Woopra and add a Web site to track and we’ll get around to approving it as we have the capacity. (It takes a lot of infrastructure to support all this…)

Oh, and one other thing, you have to promise to do a writeup about Woopra and tell Elie, Jad and I what you think.

One Man’s Weekly Links – March 14, 2008

John P. — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:05:40 +0000

I’ve got quite a smorgasborg of random links for you guys today. Hope you enjoy!

I don’t even know how to describe this. Just check out the Hema “product” page.
Have a dog or cat? Get a Peticure to trim their nails.
MoreWords.com helps solve crossword puzzles, word games, and generates domain name ideas.
Clone photos on Flickr are cool. They are photos with the same person in multiple poses.
Obama leads Clinton 1,611 to 1,480 in total delegate count.
Barack Obama: On Net Neutrality, which I’ve long advocated!
Prostitution: A User’s Manual from The Huffington Post
The universe explained in 4 minutes or less.

The Complete Emergency Preparedness Kit

John P. — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:14:38 +0000

The worst thing about emergencies is that you just can’t predict them. The only good news is that you can plan for them.

Since people are always under duress when an emergency actually occurs it is prudent to assemble a kit that you can pull out when needed that covers most bases. So, here is a fairly complete list of the items you’ll find in my personal stash, plus a couple of extras that might be helpful for some folks with special needs.

Now seriously, why don’t you take a couple of hours and really honestly think thorough this emergency thing. You never know, perhaps the reason you’re reading this article today is a sign. You don’t want to be the person that didn’t pay attention and were left unprepared when disaster struck!

General Supplies

Duck Tape – The most useful product on Earth.
Emergency Thermal Blankets – $5, get a few.
Camp stove or at least a Jetboil
Can opener
Canned and packaged foods
Bottled water
Wind Resistant Lighter
THE Extractor – Bite and sting kit.
Gas-O-Haul – Collapsible emergency gasoline can
An emergency crank radio is simply imperative.

Illness

Ciprofloxacin (or Cipro), is a broad-spectrum antibiotic useful against a whole lot of bugs, plus famous for fighting Anthrax.
Vicks One-Second Ear Thermometer – because no one wants to sit there with a thermometer under their tongue when they are sick!
Potassium Iodide (Radiation Blocking Pills) $12-22 per family member
Stockpiling of Potassium Iodide (chemical abbreviation KI) is recommended by health officials worldwide to prevent thyroid cancer of those exposed to radioactive iodine in the event of a nuclear reactor accident or detonation of a nuclear bomb.

The biggest health risk after an accident at a nuclear plant or a nuclear attack results from exposure to radioactive iodine. Other radioisotopes are dispersed and quickly excreted, but radioiodine is concentrated and retained in the thyroid, increasing your risk of thyroid cancer. Even tiny doses, which can be carried downwind for hundreds of miles, can be harmful. Children are at greatest risk.

Taking potassium iodide (KI) before or immediately after exposure saturates your thyroid gland with safe stable iodine so that the uptake of radioactive iodine is blocked. There won’t be time to get it when an incident occurs. The FDA recommends keeping a 14-day supply on hand; radioactive iodine has a half-life of eight days.

Injury

Triple antibiotic ointment – A cocktail of three popular antibiotics invented in the 1950s that is synergistically more powerful than any of the three alone or in sequence. Trials have shown that triple antibiotic combo reduces scarring better than double or a single antibiotic. It’s an over-the-counter ointment at any drug store.
Burn Jel or Spenco 2nd Skin Moist Burn Pads – For dealing with burns.
Precision Tweezers – $12 – When you get a splinter those cheap eyebrow tweezers will only push it in deeper. That’s when you need a good set of Tweezerman Splinter tweezers. They’ll allow you dig just about anything out from under the skin. Alternatively, if you want some seriously sharp tweezers because you have to deal with metal shaving splinters or some other very tiny, yet highly painful, stuff, try som SPI tweezers. – $30
Self Adhering Athletic Tape/Bandage – CoFlex or Vet Wrap is much cheaper than the human stuff, although you are just going to wrap yourself up with it.
“H” Compression Bandage – $8
One of the emergency items I least hope to ever have to use is the compression bandage. You only whip this puppy out in case of massive unstoppable bleeding. But when it’s needed nothing else will suffice, so no emergency kit is complete without a couple of these.
Make sure you get more than one because certain injuries might require two, or you may need to change it out while working your way to medical care.
SAM Emergency Splint – $5-40 – Tremendously popular, and for good reason, a SAM Splint is crucial to any medical kit. This foam-padded aluminum splint is adaptable for use in almost any situation on almost any part of the body.
Waterproof, reusable and invisible to X-rays, SAM Splints may be folded to fit into almost any container and even work well as a cervical collar in emergency situations and are available in a number of shapes and sizes. Here is a very inexpensive generic one.

Medical Grade Super Glue -Even if you’re a surgeon you’re not likely to have a needle and thread available during an emergency, so in case there is a small to medium sized wound that needs to be closed the best thing you can have on hand is Super Glue, or the medical equivalent.
- If money is no object, you want some Dermabond (Octyl-cyanoacrylate). This stuff is the Rolls Royce of superglue specifically made for human sutures. There are also other options.
- Vetbond (Butyl-cyanoacrylate) is a medical grade super glue that is approved for use on animals, but not people because it isn’t packaged in a “sterile” human grade manner. But if it’s good enough for my dog it’s fine for me in a pinch. $15
- Super Glue (Ethyl-cyanoacrylate). This stuff was used widely in the Vietnam War to patch up soldiers in the field. $3 Oh yeah, you can also use Superglue to actually fix broken stuff.

Water Purification System – $50-150 – You can go without food, sleep and shelter for a while – but you can’t survive without water.

If money and size are not an issue you can’t beat the First Need Base Camp Portable Water Purifier. It will filter microbiological, chemical and aesthetic contaminants from enough water for a whole group of people. $650
The MSR Miox Water Purifier will work if you want to purify, but not filter, drinking water. This means it will kill harmful organisms in the water, but not filter out chemicals or contaminants. However, it is small enough to fit in a pocket and only requires salt and lithium batteries. $139
First Need Deluxe Water Purifier is a non-chemical water purifier certified to EPA Guide Standard for microbiological purifiers against bacteria, cysts and viruses. $97.50

Optional, but Recommended

Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator (AED) $1,250

If you’ve got someone in the family that is at increased risk for heart attack it makes sense to have a home defibrillator around. If it’s needed it can dramatically increase the rate of survival and decrease the severity of complications. Here is a video that demonstrates the unit in action:

Now, with the exception of the water and perhaps a camp stove you can fit everything else on this list into one relatively small container. I personally own 3 Rubbermaid ActionPacker 24-Gallon Storage Containers. They’re basically indestructible and you can get them at your local Target if you want.

The Freedom Grill Hitchmount Portable BBQ Grill

John P. — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:08:05 +0000

Folks, this is cool. For any of you out there that routinely go camping, fishing, to outdoor sporting events, or even like to take the family to the park for picnics – the Freedom Grill Hitchmount BBQ Grill looks like a fantastic option to carry along and do the cooking on the spot.

I really like everything about the design of this unit, from the secure hitch mount to the articulating arm and even the way the side trays fold into the unit for storage and transport. If there is anything I’d complain about though, it’s the fact that the base unit (offered at Amazon) only has one 12,000 BTU burner. That’s not a lot of heat for doing any sort of serious grilling. For example, steaks are going to take a long, long time, and you’ll never be able to sear them so they’ll come out a little dry.

However for burgers, chicken breasts, hot dogs, corn, and other transportable picnic food this thing should get the job done, and the only thing you need to take with you are some portable propane cylinders.

Now, if you are really serious about your tailgating and you’ve got the bucks to spend on it, they also build the FG-100 with the following modifications:

Full stainless steel
Dual 15,000 BTU burners (30k total)
Grill cover included
$900 price tag

Oh, and all of these grills come with a 3 year / 36,000 mile warranty.

The Amazing Fletcher Capstan Table

John P. — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:23:57 +0000

My friend Jimbeau took me to a specialty furniture store in Dallas and I saw one of these. It was about $25 Grand or something like that. But boy it was awesome! It’s made by dbFletcher Design.

This round table has the unique ability to grow by about 50% with a simple twist of the table surface. It is a marvel of modern engineering as well as craftsmanship. Truly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life.

Here is a brief overview video of the table in action:

This one is of the DB Fletcher Capstan Ilona expanding table:

Here is another variant called the Schwartz Table:

If anyone would like to contribute to the “Get John P a Fletcher Capstan table fund” send a check for $20,000 to me and I’ll do a complete review when it arrives.

The Wi-Fi-Detector Shirt

John P. — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 07:02:35 +0000

This is so completely off the hook geeky that it is wickedly cool… So, if anyone is looking for an excuse to get me a present, here is the number one idea. A shirt with animated bars that actually detect WiFi signals.

Better yet, it’s available for only $30 at ThinkGeek.com.

Product Features

Glowing animated shirt dynamically displays the current wi-fi signal strength.
Shows signal strength for 802.11b or 802.11g
Black 100% Cotton T-Shirt
Animated Decal is Removable (with hook and loop fasteners) for Easy Washing
Battery Pack is Concealed in a Small Pocket Sewn Inside the Shirt
Runs for hours off three AAA Batteries (not included)

Washing Instructions

Carefully peel animated decal from front of T-Shirt
Unplug ribbon connector behind decal and remove decal
Unplug battery pack and remove it
You can leave the ribbon cable inside the shirt
Machine wash gentle cycle on cold
Hang to dry

And here is a video showing the shirt in action. I know it’s boring at first, so just skip towards the end to see it in action.

Review: Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 Waterproof Camcorder

John P. — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 06:21:14 +0000

I recently purchased and tested out the Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 (I love Amazon’s Free Shipping!) waterproof camcorder to determine if it was going to be a workable solution for snorkeling around a coral reef on an upcoming trip to Hawaii.

In playing with the camera at home I determined that the video quality was much better than I expected, and photos were decent quality for a 6.37 MP camera. I guess I had been expecting to give up some quality in order to gain a waterproof form factor, but apparently Sanyo didn’t think that was necessary!

Before we move on, there are two other waterproof cameras which are the Xacti’s main competitors. The Pentax Optio W30, and the Olympus Stylus 770 W. Here is what the Globe and Mail had to say about those two:

The other two drenchable devices are both 7-megapixel digital still cameras. Pentax’s Optio W30 ($237) and Olympus’ Stylus 770 SW ($270) are both the third-generation attempts by those companies to create waterproof cameras.

It’s not clear what specific aspect of making a camera waterproof requires some companies to use cheaper, lower-quality components â€” but both Pentax and Olympus have done exactly that. They take pretty poor photos, at least compared with other $300 cameras.

The Pentax’s colors are off, the Olympus’ details are soft; both cameras are slow to fire and almost useless in dim light. The burst modes are very slow, too â€” the Pentax’s is measured not in frames per second, but in seconds per frame (1.2); the Olympus’ speed is only slightly better.

So, both of these were out of the running for me from the start.

Now, the Sanyo Xacti has several excellent features which initially caught my eye. Although I’m not sure if I’m a fan of the trigger grip style of camera, that gut feeling is only due to the fact that I have no experience with them whatsoever. What the camera does have that caught my eye are:

Shoot 640 x 480-pixel video clips and 6-megapixel still images simultaneously
5x optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD screen
Built-in image stabilization
Up to 80 minutes recording time per 1GB memory card (not included) @ 30 Frames per second.
Records in the excellent MPEG4 video format.

Now, C-Net has a full review of this camera and gave it fairly mixed reviews. Their opening comment is:

The bottom line: If underwater YouTubing were a market segment, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 would be the camera to get. But the awkward design and slow performance make it hard to recommend for landlubbers.

Still, despite what they had to say, after playing with it for only about 30 minutes I shot the following sample video of Murmur the Cat:

I actually found that the form factor of this camera was not so bad. It’s different, but in a way it was actually much easier to hold it and shoot the video than if I were trying to do it with a standard rectangular digital camera. Plus, with the screen folded out to the side, it made the unit a little wider and gave me a better hand hold to stabilize the unit.

Before I go any farther, I must give credit to Ryanne Hodson (check out her awesome video blog) for her excellent video review of the Xacti a few months ago. Honestly, without this review I would never have chosen this oddly shaped little camcorder. So its fitting to share her review with you right here and now:

Also, there are some really nice sample photos and video over at the Sanyo site.

There were two things that I didn’t like about the Xacti VPC-E1:

There is absolutely no lens cover. This really worries me. You do NOT want a scratch on that lens, or you’ve just ruined the unit. So it will have to be stored in the holster all the time. This is just sad. It should have a built in retractable lens cover.
The image stabilization is only digital, not optical. This means that hand shake is not actually stabilized, but digitally altered, and this is sub-optimal.

All in all, if you want a digital camera that can also take very good video footage, I’m not aware of many that can do a better job than the little Xacti E1. The fact that it’s the only possible choice for underwater shooting is just a really big bonus.

Other References:

Sanyo’s page on the VPC-CA65, which I believe is the exact same model with a different number for some reason.
Laptop Magazine’s Xacti E1 Review
Swim with the fishes from the Globe and Mail

The Mini Beer Keg Dispenser

John P. — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 06:21:28 +0000

OK. I’m man enough to admit that I don’t really like beer. But I know that most of my friends do, and if you are reading this article I suppose there is a good chance you, or someone you know does too!

So, everyone knows that the best beer comes straight out of a keg. But who has the room to stick one of those in their kitchen? Especially complete with a full sized keg refrigerator! Well, fret not my little cheeky-monkeys – you don’t have to! Now there is the Mini Beer Keg Dispenser which you can pick up for about $229 and leave permanently displayed on your kitchen counter.

It features a digital display that allows for easy adjustment and monitoring of temperature settings, and a thermoelectric system which provides ultra-quiet cooling.

So really, what are you waiting for?

My Invitation to The Playboy Passport Club

John P. — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:18:11 +0000

Well, a little over a week ago I received my own personal invitation from Hugh Hefner to join the exclusive society of the Playboy Passport club. Ok, it was a form letter, and Hef probably hasn’t even heard my name yet. But the invite does have his signature on it.

What is Passport you may ask? Well, according to Playboy:

Playboy Passport is the elite members-only concierge service dedicated to providing its members exclusive access to the best in dining, nightlife, travel, and special events.

It’s also limited to 1,000 people worldwide. Forever.

Now, a lot of different sites on the Internet have been talking about Playboy Passport in the past month or so. But, to my knowledge, I’m the only person who has actually received an invite that is writing about it. So, here are the first photos of what an actual invitation looks like.

It came via FedEx (or UPS… I didn’t pay attention) overnight, and it’s in a classy silver package about the size of a large book. Inside is a personal invitation letter that starts out:

Dear John,

For over 50 years Playboy has been turning fantasy into reality. Today I have the pleasure of continuing this tradition by inviting you to become a founding member of Playboy’s elite concierge program, Playboy Passport.

Also enclosed is a guide to member benefits, a very nice brochure, and five extraordinary holograms. They are much nicer than any other holograms I’ve seen before.

So, now we have a decision to make… namely, whether or not to accept the invitation.

This is an exclusive club. But it is also an expensive one. I’m waiting on answers to a few questions and have not yet made a decision. So, feel free to chime in if you have an opinion. In the meantime, here are a few of the benefits that come along with membership:

Global travel and reservation services including airport lounge access, hotel upgrades, and access to private jets and yachts.
Invitations to restaurant openings, chef’s table dinners, and exclusive dining experiences.
VIP access to the hottest clubs and lounges around the world (of course, I’m allergic to smoke).
VIP access to signature Playboy events at the Super Bowl and Kentucky Derby as well as the Playboy Golf Scramble, Playboy Poker Camp, Playboy Jazz Festival, Playboy boutique openings and events, Playboy magazine issue release parties, and moreâ€¦
Exclusive, dedicated events at the Playboy Mansion and Palms Casino Resort Las Vegas.
Invitations to regional member events and networking functions.

I suppose if Hef were to actually call me I’d pretty much HAVE to accept the invitation, but I don’t really see that happening…

So. What would you do if you were me?

Everybody’s Nuts Incredible Product Marketing

John P. — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 05:45:42 +0000

Every once in a while you come across a product whose packaging is so unique and compelling that you absolutely must try it out. Well, when I came across a box of Everybody’s Nuts pistachios at the local grocery store I knew I had to put them in my belly!

You know, pistachios are not exactly the kind of product people normally get emotional about, and that is what makes this story so compelling. Here you’ve got an abnormally boring food, yet someone has gone and made it deliciously desirable.

It definitely demonstrates how big of a role that creativity can play when it comes to selling your goods and services… or yourself!

The first thing to catch your eye is the unique packaging. Most pistachios come in clear bags, but these are in white boxes with a tapered top. They include eye-catching graphics, and have an awesome little pistachio mascot on them!

When you turn them over to look at the back of the box, they have a bunch of different stories printed on them. That’s right, what I’m telling you is that most of the time if you turn two boxes over they will have completely different labels, each with a clever or cute story. The packaging therefore reinforces the uniqueness of the product. (Make sure and click the following image so you can read the backs.)

Then, when you finally open them up you still end up with another little packaging surprise. A cute little cracker-jax style message inside.

All in all, I wish more companies would learn to make their products with the same level of quality, and the same level of packaging enthusiasm. In the meantime if you have access to Everybody’s Nuts I highly recommend you stop and pick some up. They are delicious!

By the way, Everybody’s Nuts is giving away a trip to Hawaii and the contest ends on September 30th, so head over and enter. No purchase necessary! Hmmm…. maybe I shouldn’t have told you that because it lowers my own odds of winning.

Oh, and if you work at Everyone’s Nuts, feel free to send me a case or two of your nuts after you figure out where all of the traffic to your site is coming from. :-)

Review: Belkin N1 Vision Wireless-N Gigabit Router

John P. — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 07:12:43 +0000

I can’t think of the last time I fell in love with a piece of hardware so fast as I did the Belkin N1 Vision Wireless Gigabit Router (Model: F5D8232-4).

I saw it on the shelf at Best Buy while looking to replace my crappy old Netgear router, and after reading some of the literature I could not resist grabbing the only one they had to take it home and give it a try – despite the $200 price tag.

I picked it up for two primary reasons:

The cool display on the outside of the router actually looked like it could be useful for seeing what is going on with the connectivity.
The box claimed a freakishly long range, which I reasoned would be worth it if I could actually get coverage throughout my large house.

I have to stop for a minute and talk about the packaging. It looks like Belkin has been studying Apple’s playbook, because the N1 box is a work of art. Not only is the outside packaging attractive, but when you open it up the inside is even better! It’s like you’re unwrapping a present and it’s just so nice, shiny and cool that it makes you feel good about the money you spent on it.

So, after unboxing it I set it up on my desktop counter – as opposed to below the counter where other routers get relegated. As soon as I plugged it in and saw that sexy display come to life I was hooked.

I whipped out the one page quick install guide and proceeded to immediately log into the router’s interface. Note: you must use an ethernet connection to do the initial configuration, but then you can disconnect it and go wireless. Configuration was as simple as any other router I’ve ever used, if not simpler.

In addition, I found that the Wireless security implementation was the easiest I’ve ever used, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that you can have two SSIDs! One for your primary network, and another that you can allow guests to use. I’ve never seen this in a consumer product before.

Once things were configured and working I went to playing with the fabulous display on the router, eventually ending up with the inbound and outbound traffic graphing on permanent display. After that there was only one other thing to check… the range.

So, I grabbed my laptop and carried it to the farthest corner of the house and proceeded to discover that I still had 4 out of 5 bars! Damn! It’s the holy grail of home networking!

So, the bottom line is that this is about the most expensive home router that you can buy – but in my opinion it is worth every penny! It is very, very fast (it will improve ALL of your Web surfing speeds), it has the longest range I’ve ever seen, it has some incrediblly useful information on the display, and it is just a sexy, sexy looking piece of hardware. Frankly, this router deserves a whole stack of awards based on what I’ve seen and I recommend that everyone go pick one up ASAP!

By the way, Belkin also has a demo of the N1 Vision that you can watch here.

Google Offers Free Universal Phone Numbers – And I’ve Got Invites

John P. — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 06:42:57 +0000

Google recently acquired a company called GrandCentral, which I was preparing to do a review of anyway after testing the service out a bit. This only makes the offering all that much stronger, and in my opinion it’s something everyone should try out.

Here is the Google acquisition announcement which took about 2 seconds to download directly from my voice mail:
Google Buys GrandCentral

GrandCentral links all of your phone numbers together and layers on a TON of new features. How? They are giving people One Number…for Life – a number that’s not tied to a phone or a location – but tied to you. This number will consolidate your voice messaging, route calls to wherever you are, and even allow you to screen your calls.

With GrandCentral, you can be reached with a single number, answer a call at any phone you want, seamlessly switch phones in the middle of a call, and even know whether a call is important before you take it.

Here are just a few of the features:

Check your messages by phone, email, or online
Keep all your messages online for eternity
Record and store your phone calls (just like voicemail)
Quickly (and secretly) block an annoying caller
Click-to-dial from your address book
Surprise your callers with a custom voicemail greeting
Forward, download, and add notes to your messages

Folks, if you’ve never used a Find-me, Follow-me service before or had access to your voicemails as e-mail attachments then you don’t know what you’re missing. You really, really need to sign up.

There are a great number of advantages to having this service:

First, you are no longer tied to a service provider for your phone number. You can change cell numbers, home numbers… whatever. Your GrandCentral number never changes.
You can set up call screening which requires unknown callers to announce themselves before you accept the call. No more solicitations!
You can have multiple phones ring simultaneously and grab the one that’s most convenient (or cheapest).
You can put a “Click to Call” button on your Web site for people to reach you directly from your site.
While you’re at home or in the office talk on your landline phone, then transfer to your cell if you need to leave, transfer back when you return!

There are also some drawbacks to using a service like this but they can be minimized:

Friends and Family type calling plans on cell phones get screwed up by this sort of service. Calls from the same network pass through the GrandCentral system so they probably burn up your minutes. So, either have those people continue to use your direct cell number or upgrade your minutes!
The GC Terms of Service state that it is for non-commercial use only. Considering that people have jobs and are going to have the phone ring to their office I don’t know what they mean by this. But I guess just be aware of it.
The Web Click to Call feature may conflict with the business use terms. I’m guessing it also only works in the US.

Room for Improvement:

Find a way around the “Friends and Family” call routing issue.
For the number to truly be universal it needs to be able to accept inbound faxes as well. (They’ll probably charge for this later.)
I imagine they will add on optional 800 number support at some time in the future.
Click to Call from your address book needs to be integrated with Outlook so you don’t have to log in to the Web site.
How about inbound caller ID notification pop ups on my PC and perhaps a small application that sits in the system tray which gives me access to everything without visiting the Web site?

Now, they are currently in Beta with the service and you have to wait for an invitation. According to their blog it’s kind of hard to get an invite right now. But luckily I’ve been a tester for a while and I can send invites to allow you to skip the wait! All you need to do is drop me a comment below with a request for an invitation (make sure you put your real e-mail address in there).

EDIT: Folks, this service is now known as Google Voice, and I have NO more invites! So please don’t bother asking for one because they don’t exist for anyone, anywhere. You just have to wait to get it direct from Google. In fact, I’m closing the comments on this one…

Extract Revenge with the Annoy-a-tron

John P. — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 06:36:04 +0000

Think Geek brings us the Annoy-a-tron – a gadget that’s very effective at disturbing that guy in the sales department or your “friend” down the hall.

With its thin design and embedded magnet for easy hiding, the Annoy-a-tron can be placed in a variety of locations. Select one of the three sound choices (2 kHz, 12 kHz, or alternating) and push the switch to the on position. Place it in a proper hiding spot and let the “fun” begin.

The Annoy-a-tron generates a short (but very annoying, hence the name) beep every few minutes. Your unsuspecting target will have a hard time ‘timing’ the location of the sound because the beeps will vary in intervals ranging from 2 to 8 minutes.

The 2kHz sound is generically annoying enough, but if you really really want to aggravate somebody, select the 12 kHz sound. Trust us. The higher frequency and slight ‘electronic noise’ built into that soundbyte will make a full-grown Admin wonder where his packets are.

I love the instructions:

3 simple steps.

Turn on.*

Hide it.

Muahahaha…

Props to Gizmodo for pointing it out on Coolest Gadgets. But even bigger props to Jimbeau once again for bringing it to my attention.

Blend ANYTHING!! Seriously… iPod in a Blender!

John P. — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 06:34:39 +0000

I never imagined I could desire a blender so bad, but man do I want the $400 BlentTec Total Blender!

In what has to be the most brilliant marketing campaign of all time, the BlendTec folks decided to throw away (or at least blend) the manual when it comes to getting the message out about their product.

Other blenders may be able to do some of this stuff as well, but BlendTec proves it when they literally throw in light bulbs, beer bottles, golf clubs, barbie dolls, rakes and cell phones and blend the crap out of them!

This definitely goes on next years Christmas list!

Now, in addition to the sheer hooligan capabilities, the machine is actually a pretty awesome machine for actual use in a kitchen (but nowhere near as fun…). It can be used to make fully cooked steaming hot soup, completely frozen ice cream, and anything in between.

Creative Zen Vision W Review – 60 GB Personal Media Player

John P. — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 07:21:24 +0000

Ahh, toys… the latest one to enter the fold is the Creative Zen Vision W personal media player. This device does just about everything.

But is it any good? Well, read on to find out.

Feature List

4.3″ WQVGA high-resolution LCD screen – View 480 x 272 resolution in a wide aspect screen at up to 262,144 colors or output video and photos to an external display at a maximum of 720×480.
Holds up to 240 hours of movies – ZEN support formats such as AVI, DivX 4 & 53, XviD4, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4-SP, WMV9 and Motion-JPEG, which simply means more choices and fewer restrictions.
Store up to tens of thousands of photos – Complete with a thumbnail gallery and zoom capabilities.
Up to 15,000 songs – With 5-band EQ or 8 preset EQ settings and 96dB signal-to-noise ratio.
TV output – Connect the ZEN to a projector or TV with the bundled AV cable for everyone to see.
FM radio – Listen to more music with the integrated FM radio with 32 station presets.
Personal organizer – Syncs your contacts, calendar, and tasks with Microsoft Outlook.
Voice recorder – Record meetings, lectures, even voice memos.
Long lasting battery – Enjoy up to 13 hours of music, or 4.5 hours of movies.
Offload digital photos – Transfer pictures from your camera to ZEN without a computer.

Initial Impressions

The device was packaged with accessories including earbud headphones, a wall power adapter, a USB cable, a software disc, A/V-out cables, and a felt case.

After unpacking the device I noticed that it is hefty, but not heavy. It weighs 10.5 ounces and though it looks a little plain you can tell that the screen is quality even before you turn it on.

The software installed just fine on my heavily abused XP system and is very simple to use. It includes functions to load songs, video and photos on the device as well as the ability to rip audio CDs. One thing notably missing however was the ability to rip DVDs.

This to me was a glaring omission. How does Creative expect people to get their DVDs into this PMP device? In order to perform this task I had to use some other software. I’ve documented the process of ripping DVDs to your hard drive for transfer to the Zen here. I’ve got two options, one fairly simple but not free, one free but a little more complicated.

Back to the review at hand…

I found Creative’s transfer software to be very simple to use and after loading up some MP3s and videos I immediately plugged in my Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones to take a listen. With these headphones I initially felt the sound quality was a little flat, but then I changed the EQ settings to suit my preference and it sounded fantastic.

I then threw on a movie and was impressed with the sharpness and clarity of the video. I never forgot that I was watching a tiny screen, but I was very, very happy that I hadn’t picked up an iPod. The Zen W’s screen is at least 200% larger and I wouldn’t want it any smaller.

The only thing that I immediately missed is some sort of built in stand for the unit. If you want to set it down to watch it you’ll have to lean it against something, and then it wants to slip. I’m considering making a stand for it myself on my PlasmCAM.

The Good and Bad

Things I Like:

The screen is beautiful. It is very sharp and clear and has a good refresh rate.
The user interface is very intuitive. I didn’t read a single page of the manual, but everything was extremely easy to figure out.
The built in speaker is adequate. I wish it could go a little louder but hey, at least it has one, (unlike the iPod and other units).
The player remembers exactly where each movie stopped, and resumes playing from that spot, even if you watch several different movies at at time.
The fast forward and rewind functions work awesome! They start out slow and then speed up exponentially. It feels just right – very unlike Ipod.
The non-bloated, functional and simple software.
Although I haven’t tested it yet, I’m looking forward to syncing the device with TiVo as the box says “…transfer them to your player using TiVoToGo…”.
Creative built in a ton of extras such as Outlook contact, calendar and task syncing; and excellent FM radio and a microphone for recording.
CNet claims 18 hours and 28 minutes of MP3 battery life, with 5 hours 6 minutes of juice when playing video, which is far more than Creative’s claims. In addition, it’s removable so you could get an extra one if you wanted to keep going after that.

Things I don’t like:

You must install the Creative software in order to transfer files. Although you can easily partition up to 16GB to act as USB Mass Storage, it doesn’t allow you to just see the whole 60GB and drop files where you want them. Still, this is a reasonable compromise.
Although the size is fine, I wish it was just a little thinner. Its .9″ thick and it would be ideal if it could be more like .3 – .5″ thick. I realize the technology isn’t there yet.
The buttons are a little too small for my fingers. I’m 6′1″ with fairly large hands.
It doesn’t stand up by it’s self. If you set it down it needs to lean on something.

In order to test the widest range of encoded information I downloaded a bunch of bootlegged movies from the Internet (and then deleted them immediately afterwards of course :-) ). I did this because I can’t possibly create test formats for the wide variety of choices out there.

Compatibility

Formats Tested:

I checked out a version of Employee of the Month, encoded with TMPGEnc, 352×240, at 30fps, and it worked well until about 1/2 way through when the voice got out of sync with the video. This is normally associated with the quality of the software used to encode the video.
An Inconvenient Truth encoded with TMPGEnc, 352×240, at 30fps worked flawlessly.
I tried to install Bowling for Columbine which was encoded with MPEG4, 560×304, 24fps, but the Creative MediaSource software failed to convert it and therefore it did not transfer to the device. The software did not explain why it couldn’t convert it, it just failed.
While watching a video of Half Baked (encoded with XVID, 624×336, 24fps) the video played back choppy. Aproximately every 10-20 seconds there would be about a .5 second pause.
Barnyard, encoded in MPEG1 Layer 2, 352×240, 30fps worked just fine.
The Ant Bully, encoded with DivX 6.2.2, 352×240 at 30fps worked perfectly.
Casino Royale, which incidentally is the greatest Bond movie ever made!!!, encoded in MPEG1 Layer 2, 352×240, 30fps worked fine as well.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture. I’d say that approximately 90% of the movies downloaded at least worked. A few of them had a glitch or two. The ones that I ripped from my own DVDs, using this method, worked flawlessly.

Summary

I had considered every personal media player on the market before picking up the Zen Vision W. Money was truly no object, I just wanted to get one that had a fantastic screen, long battery life and excellent compatibility with a wide range of encoding and formats.

For any amount of money I don’t think you can do better than this media player, and given that you can pick one up for $350-400 it makes the perfect A/V travel companion.

Other Resources

The Creative Zen Web site
There is also a short video of CNet editor James Kim’s (recently deceased) review here.
Zen Vision M Microsite

As always, questions and comments are welcome, and if you found this article useful please do me the favor of DIGGing it, bookmarking it with Del.icio.us, or any of your favorite sites from up by the article title.

Have fun!

EDIT: 1/8/2007 I also just added a complete teardown of this device for those that might be interested in upgrading the hard drive.

EDIT: 7/12/2007 Thanks to Michael we have this picture of the SF Planet Zen W Case w/stand. As he described it:

The kickstand is built separate as a flap in the back. The top cover just throws back and hangs there to keep the weight pulling backwards onto the kickstand.

And when youâ€™re done, the kickstand is magnetic, so it will snap back to the case and not stick out.