Google TV Event Shows Off Android-Loaded Logitech Revue Components - Cloud Computing from eWeek

Google TV Event Shows Off Android-Loaded Logitech Revue Components - Cloud Computing from eWeek: "NEW YORK—Logitech executives convened here Oct. 6 to show off more than a year of hard work developing a companion box, full and mini keyboard controllers and a TV Cam for making high-definition video calling, all for Google TV. Though packed into a tiny show space in Chinatown, Logitech officials offered an impressive demonstration of their products to support the service, which allows users to channel surf and navigate the Web from one keyboard controller, mini controller or iPhone or Android smartphone. Officials for the company easily flitted from one application to search and then to the next application. Then they shifted between TV and Web content all without snags and only minimal latency. The Revue box, which connects easily to TVs at home with an HDMI cable, is preloaded with several applications, including Netflix, Amazon On Demand, Napster, CNBC Realtime, Logitech Media Player and more. The Revue box and Keyboard Controller are available for preorder now from Logitech.com, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com. Delivery is expected by the end of the month. There is also a mini controller and Logitech TV Cam for making video calls through Google TV. See the prices, along with the devices in action, in this eWEEK slide show."

Polycom CMA desktop videoconferencing - in-flight follow-up

Here is a picture taken on my Delta flight to San Jose using gogo in-flight wireless. 

 

 Overall experience was not bad.  A little break up in the video but audio was crisp and clear.  Better than expected with the latency.

Sqeezebox radio is new in my home

For years I have enjoyed streaming Internet music from my squeezebox audio player which is in my living room hooked up to a Bose CD/Radio system. It can stream music from Pandora, Slacker or from my home media computer over my home wireless network. Not to easy to move out to the deck, garage or front porch however.

Recently Best Buy had an ad for the Logitech Sqeezebox Radio on sale for $159 so I picked one up. Great sound from the speaker, can run on a rechargeable battery pack (not included, remote is not included either). I keep it on my nightstand, easy to read clock, cool control knobs and wireless of course. I set it to turn off after 30 minutes of play time every night. The display shows the album cover of the song playing on Pandora as a bonus. Highly recommended as a replacement for the cheap sounding clock radios that don't stream from the Internet.

Ted5000 Update

Here is a chart from igoogle showing how much juice my AC was sucking from the grid yesterday.
Last night I finally opened the windows and enjoyed the fresh air. The dark green shows todays
usage, the light green to the left is yesterdays usage.

IPTV - UVerse - NHL Playoffs

Throughout the year, I evaluate costs and usually during the summer - cut down on our TV expense by downgrading service. However, when realizing that downgrade removed Versus from my package and not being able to watch the Detroit Red Wings on Versus - there's an exception.

The game started at 8:00pm ET, but I started looking to get it on my TV around 9:20 pm ET after listening to the game on the radio. I went out to att.com/uversecentral and logged into my account and within 3 minutes, I had updated my service plan, took advantage of a monthly discount with the change from U100 to U200 for the summer, and was watching Versus HD before I logged off my PC.

Does Uverse costs a little more then a Dish Service or Cable company - slightly - but that flexibility and customer service without having to deal with "Customer Service", is bar none worth every dime.

To close out my first post - Go Uverse and Go Wings!

TED5000 is now in my home, monitors household power utilization

I have been looking into energy monitoring devices for my home for awhile. I first started with the Kill-a-watt meter which monitors one device plugged into the monitor. Then I experimented with a upgrade to the Kill-a-watt that transfers the data via zigbee wireless to my computer in real time. Both failed to impress me with the information gathered. It worked well for a quick look at the energy the device was sucking from the grid but did not change any behavior in my home. Lights, computers, TVs continued to be left on while no one was in the room.

The TED5000 connects to your main breaker box power inputs using small clamps, the feeds go into a monitor that is connected to a dual pole breaker (my AC). This monitor send the real time data via the power lines to a gateway plugged into the wall under my worksurface in my office. The gateway looks like a wall wart transformer and is connected to my LAN via a cable to my wireless router.

Configuration is a snap once the monitor and gateway is plugged in using my PC (you need to write down the mac address of the devices) and I was able to monitor total house usage in 30 minutes. I also purchased a remote display which is located in the kitchen, it communicates via wireless zigbee to the gateway in the basement and displays the usage and cost per hour. This morning with the house quiet I was sucking 270watts from the grid (until I fired up the coffee maker). The remote display updates every 5 seconds showing you what you are sucking from the grid in real time.

Another key feature is the ability to upload the data from the gateway to google's power meter site. Once this is configured it runs automatically, sending me weekly updates on my usage as well as the ability to use a gadget with igoogle to look at my daily suckage from the grid.

Now my wife can glance at the display and enjoy the fact that leaving the kitchen halogen lights on suck 240watts from the grid while the sun is shining.

The whole deal cost about $250 for the devices from TED.

New open source video codec to watch from Google

Interesting post regarding a rumored video codec coming from Google at the May developer conference.

My Book World Edition

Hi all, thought I might chime in here with a piece of hardware I have found has solved alot of my home file storage issues. The "My Book World Edition" networked hard drive is very easy to set up and offers the home user a terabyte of storage for all your media needs at a very cost effective pricepoint. Access speeds can be optimized with a gigabit ethernet port (most techy rehabs have gigabit for their home networks :) and with an additional USB port you can daisy chain another drive if you fill this one. The network access was the big thing I was looking for, with several computers in the house, adding hardisk to each one was becomming an exercise in reformatting and rebuilding. itunes and other media files are getting easier and easier to access on the internet and where else better to store them than onyou own networked storage device.

The lack of RAID support was a bit of a ding in reviews but for my home network I was looking for something that would be easy for everyone in the family to use. I know there are other solutions out there and many that are as cost effective, I would be interested to hear what others are using.

Roku

Roku what is it? When I first heard the name I thought it might have been something that Godzilla battled on Monster Island. No this little device is a Netflix Streaming set-top box that has all of your Netflix instant que pushed to it. The setup is a breeze and with wireless it can support streaming of a 720p signal of anything that you add to your que. They have also included channels from Revision3,TWIT.tv,Amazon Video on Demand and MLB Live. This is the best TV watching experince that I have had in a long time. No commercials and Full Seasons of TV shows are available.

PlayOn Digital Media Server | PlayOn

PlayOn Digital Media Server PlayOn

Cut the cable! Finally an inexpensive way to bring Internet video to your TV. Just make sure your systems meet the minimum requirements.

Polycom CMA desktop videoconferencing

This picture was taken on my Amtrak train ride to Chicago testing the new Polycom CMA desktop videoconference client for work using my tethered blackberry Tour for my data connection!

Audio and Video worked great. 

I did throttle down the network preferences to the following ...

Here is a snapshot from the other end of the desktop videoconference call . . .

Blue Ray Player - PS3

There is only one 100% compatable blue ray player. That is a PS3. It is the only one that can be updated on the file for software support. It is the only device out there that can be used for a BlueRay player, DVD Player, Game Console, Streaming Media Player (All the Barry Manilo that you got from Limewire) and fully interacts with Netflix. (www.netflix.com) Netflix is a must have. There is other BlueRay players that play higher lines of resolution and sound outputs but for one box that does it all, ,must have a PS3.

ScribeFire

ScribeFire is the most popular blogging software for Firefox. It is compatible with Blogger, Wordpress, and many other blog hosts.  Just started using it and I'm very impressed.  Makes blogging much easier, especially if you are blogging to multiple sites and you are using Mozilla Firefox.

Download

Getting Started with ScribeFire

SlingBox

The Slingbox PRO-HD delivers your favorite shows and content over the Internet in stunning high definition to your desktop, or laptop—anywhere you go. It gives you the same great features and ease-of-use as the Slingbox SOLO with the benefit of multiple inputs, a built-in TV tuner, and a true-to-life HD viewing experience.

I recently purchased the Slingbox PRO-HD because I had the need to watch live TV in my home office.  I have a dual 22" monitor setup and thought it would be nice to use the second monitor as a television.  

It works great and the quality is phenomenal when accessing it from my local LAN.  I also can view my cable box through slingbox.com which will connect to my cable box after I log in.  There is a mobile client for $30.00 for a i-phone or blackberry, which would allow you to watch and connect to your cable box, DVR, BlueRay, etc.  Connecting remotely does not have the HD quality but works pretty well. Here is a demo of the installation.

Demo

In the summer, it will turn my laptop into a portable television when sitting on the deck and there is a big game on.

For those that can not resist. - WOOT

This is where I find some great deals and gifts while saving money. My wife things I am addicted. If I was addicted I would have the Wootalyzer on every computer I own. Stay away from this site. You will be addicted to it once you try it. http://www.wootalyzer.com/
It gives you deals of the day from many sources including Amazon deal of the day.

Google Knows Your Face

I just discovered the latest version of Picasa: 3.5. This application from Google is a handy way to organize your photos. I had tried it before, but there is a new capability in this version that has me hooked: Name Tags, aka facial recognition. The app indexes through your photos, picking out facial patterns. You associate the faces with your contacts (or, if you choose, you may ignore certain faces), and in short time Picasa will actually start making its own suggestions by recognizing unique facial patterns. In the end, just synchronize all your data up to Google's cloud and you'll be quickly recognized by every government security camera in no-time.

Team Viewer

Do you have trouble supporting PC issues for your friends and family?  TeamViewer is a FREE remote desktop solution that establishes connections to any PC or server all around the world within just a few seconds. You can remote control your partner's PC as if you were sitting right in front of it.

Feature List

What I realy like is the TeamViewer partner list which allows you to see which family member is available – just one mouse click and you are connected.  This is really handy to avoid lengthly conversations with friends and family on what they need to do so you are able to connect to their PC.  This implies there is trust as you will be able to access the remote PC at anytime.  You can also create an on-demand session if mom does not want you to have access to her PC at any given time.  Not an issue for me as my family is also getting FREE support as well :-)



Click Here for the Free Download!

Jawbone Bluetooth headset - Aliph Jawbone 2

Here is some more bluetooth headset information.  Ive tried many bluetooth devices for my cellphone/blackberry without much luck over the years . My need for a bluetooth device was simple.  I needed a functional device that provided me handsfree freedom while driving.  Because of my bluetooth experiences,  I've never been a real fan of bluetooth headsets for the following reasons:


1) Bulky and uncomfortable to wear
2) Hard to hear even with the volume cranked up
3) My callers always complained the call quality was poor
4) Felt uncomfortable wearing the device when I used it periodically in public.  Call it the "dork effect"

The Aliph Jawbone 2 finally met my simple expectations for a bluetooth headset for my cell phone.  The device is very light and comfortable to wear over an extended period of time and is small enough where I don't feel like I'm wearing major IT head gear.  In other words, the device is very quaint and subtle to wear, which helps in reducing the "dork effect."  All qualities of good design.  Sound quality is awesome with exceptional noise canceling technology termed "noise assassin" by Jawbone.  This bluetooth device has resolved all 4 of my issues defined above.  Highly recommend.

CNET Review

Orb

Orb allows you to stream content to almost any device. I installed it so I can stream to my iPod Touch.

I purchased the 8 gig version of the iPod leaving me limited room for videos and music. Now that I am streaming content I only upload a few things to my iPod. (Allowing me have some content while I am not connected to a WiFi connection.)

Another advantage is not having to convert my videos to to the iPod format and size. This saves me time and disk space by not having duplicate videos for my WDTV and iPod.

When the PC with Orb installed and the device your using to connect to the stream is on the same network Orb streams through your network not eating up your bandwidth. Comcast users will love this since it will not count against your 250 gig monthly limit.

Orb is working well for me.

It is free to install on your PC and use through the web. There was a 10 dollars cost for the Orb Live iPod app. Your supposed to be able to stream live content like TV to the iPod. Since I do not have a TV tuner card I am unable post on whether this works or not.

Plantronics Voyager Pro

In my home office setup I have three devices, my IP phone, my laptop and my BlackBerry. Until recently, I have also used three headsets, one for each device. This can get frustrating when switching from one device to another. In addition, when I "go mobile," it's a real pain to drag around a wired headset. So I set out to solve the problem.

I had three criteria for my search: 1) the solution had to work with all three devices, 2) the quality of the sound had to be as good as my wired headsets, and 3) the battery power had to last all day. After researching the available options I selected two Bluetooth headsets to test. In this review I will focus on the Plantronics Voyager Pro (will cover the other in a different post).

The Voyager Pro received an excellent review from CNET. They rated it as the best sound quality of any Bluetooth headset they've ever tried. However, they did express concern about the bulkiness of the device. Here's a video from CNET:



Personally, I don't find the Voyager Pro bulky. I was used to wearing a full wired headset, so the Voyager Pro is considerably less hardware and a refreshing change. I do agree with CNET's statement about the quality of the sound. The quality is EXCELLENT, which meets my second criteria.

As for the first criteria, ability to work with all three devices, the Voyager Pro is able to connect to two Bluetooth-enabled devices at the same time and switches automatically between the devices. Since I have my work phone set up to also ring my Blackberry (thanks Mark!), I decided to eliminate the IP phone for my testing and just use my Blackberry and my computer. The Voyager Pro connected to both devices seamlessly. I simply put the headset in discover mode (hold down on the on/off button) and both my computer and Blackberry recognized it and connected. Painless. I could have also used it with my IP phone (after enabling Bluetooth) but I don't really need it with my Blackberry rollover setup.

As for the third criteria, a battery that will last all day, I have only run into a couple of situations when the batter level ran low. In both situations I was on back-to-back conference calls most of the day. Plantronics says the battery will last for about 6 hours of talk time. I think they are pretty close on that estimate. However, I've developed the habit of plugging it into the power when I am off the phone for an extended duration. As a result, I haven't experienced any battery power problems since.

I love some of the call control features of the Voyager Pro. For example, if I am on a call and I want to switch from my headset to my Blackberry, I just hold down on the call control key for about 3 seconds and the call is transfered. I can answer incoming calls by clicking the same button and I can hang up calls by doing the same. If I am on a voice call and get an incoming video conference call I can toggle between the two devices with a touch of the call control button. I can even use voice commands to dial calls without even touching my Blackberry! I will admit that it takes a little practice to get familiar with the key sequence, but once you get it down it is a very flexible device.

To summarize, I want to repeat that the quality of sound with this little device is excellent. I was honestly surprised at how clear the sound is, even connected through Bluetooth. The Voyager Pro is the sixth Bluetooth device that I have used over the years (even used a JawBone at one point) and it is the only device so far to meet my three criteria. As CNET says in their review, it is quite possibly the best Bluetooth headset ever!

OK, I better get back to work before my boss finds out I am blogging during business hours. LATER!