I saw this video via a post on CrunchGear and man, I was simply amazed.
Well, I don't have any kids, but I did brought my niece and nephew out while they were toddlers. Parents out there will definitely agree with me that folding and unfolding these prams can really be a handful.
As mentioned by Matt Burns in his post, "The best part is that the mechanism’s power comes from a small generator that recharges with every 300 feet instead of utilizing pricey batteries."
Wow. I'm all for renewables because over the long run, not only does it saves money (over batteries), but it saves the environment as well. The US$650 price tag is not exciting to me though.
Showing posts with label Gadgets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gadgets. Show all posts
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Golf + Technology makes me happy
If situation permits, I would never turn down a game of golf. I love the wide open spaces and the lush greenery. Whether you have an excellent game, or one where your ball slices into the jungle 90% of the time, you do forget your troubles back in the office or home.
When I see technology marrying with golf, wow, double whammy. Gets my blood pumping to the right places....that is the brain. Problem is, I've always read about them, but never had the chance to actually use them. Nifty golf gadgets are hard to find here in South East Asia. Just take the uPro for example. This device, well, on paper, is way cool.
From the product page, it does the more obvious job of gauging distances to the greens from your position, as well as location of hazards, bunkers and what-have-yous. What is more interesting is that, it even provides "a video flyover that allows the user to see the layout of the hole from an aerial perspective". Awesome!
And for the more pro-level golfers, there is SmartView, where "users are always shown pertinent information based on their current location on the course. Three different views allow the user to plan out the perfect shot." Hmm. For Mr-scores-100+ (that's me), it's practically useless because my balls seldom land where I'm aiming.
Anyway, I'd be really interested to bring a device like this to the course, and see how accurate it can be. Or, you can use it to irritate your caddy by pointing out how inaccurate his distance gauging is. I like the fact that there are no subscription fees attached to it. It's a purchase once, get-all-the-updates-and-courses-for-life kind of package. But the unit costs US$400. Not very techmiserish if you ask me.
If you guys are still interested, do check out uPro's website here
When I see technology marrying with golf, wow, double whammy. Gets my blood pumping to the right places....that is the brain. Problem is, I've always read about them, but never had the chance to actually use them. Nifty golf gadgets are hard to find here in South East Asia. Just take the uPro for example. This device, well, on paper, is way cool.
From the product page, it does the more obvious job of gauging distances to the greens from your position, as well as location of hazards, bunkers and what-have-yous. What is more interesting is that, it even provides "a video flyover that allows the user to see the layout of the hole from an aerial perspective". Awesome!And for the more pro-level golfers, there is SmartView, where "users are always shown pertinent information based on their current location on the course. Three different views allow the user to plan out the perfect shot." Hmm. For Mr-scores-100+ (that's me), it's practically useless because my balls seldom land where I'm aiming.
Anyway, I'd be really interested to bring a device like this to the course, and see how accurate it can be. Or, you can use it to irritate your caddy by pointing out how inaccurate his distance gauging is. I like the fact that there are no subscription fees attached to it. It's a purchase once, get-all-the-updates-and-courses-for-life kind of package. But the unit costs US$400. Not very techmiserish if you ask me.
If you guys are still interested, do check out uPro's website here
Thursday, September 04, 2008
iPhone = My object of desire
Hola! The TechMiser is back!
One piece of gadgetry that really caught my interest is none other the iPhone. I'm not a big Apple fan, but I do love a well designed piece of equipment that makes the user feel great. Pound for pound, according to my geeky friend, iPhone loses out to its competitors like Samsung's Omnia or the HTC Diamond. The camera has less megapixels, screen resolution, the size is bigger, it's heavier, there are a lot more applications for the Windows Mobile platform, content is more varied, and so on and so forth.
However, the thing that really stood out for me is the fact that, the iPhone is simply much more sexy. I've tried to navigate around the menus of the Omnia and the Diamond, but they are just uninspiring. Those 2 that I've mentioned have great looking industrial designs, but it's ruined by the Windows Mobile-based interface. In addition, the accelerometer and true multi-touch interface will inspire plenty of creative applications and of course, they will be available easily via the iPhone application store. And, web browsing is the best I've ever experience on a mobile phone. It's sexy, and it's intuitive.
Now, the thing is to actually own one of these sexy beasts. Being techmiser, I'll wait for prices to go down even further.
One piece of gadgetry that really caught my interest is none other the iPhone. I'm not a big Apple fan, but I do love a well designed piece of equipment that makes the user feel great. Pound for pound, according to my geeky friend, iPhone loses out to its competitors like Samsung's Omnia or the HTC Diamond. The camera has less megapixels, screen resolution, the size is bigger, it's heavier, there are a lot more applications for the Windows Mobile platform, content is more varied, and so on and so forth.
However, the thing that really stood out for me is the fact that, the iPhone is simply much more sexy. I've tried to navigate around the menus of the Omnia and the Diamond, but they are just uninspiring. Those 2 that I've mentioned have great looking industrial designs, but it's ruined by the Windows Mobile-based interface. In addition, the accelerometer and true multi-touch interface will inspire plenty of creative applications and of course, they will be available easily via the iPhone application store. And, web browsing is the best I've ever experience on a mobile phone. It's sexy, and it's intuitive.Now, the thing is to actually own one of these sexy beasts. Being techmiser, I'll wait for prices to go down even further.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Oppo V5H MP4 Player
The Oppo V5H MP4 player, also known as the Luna, is a breath of fresh air compared to other portable players from China. I’ve always had the impression that Chinese-branded players are made with the lowest cost possible, which equates lousy packaging, minimal bundling of accessories and using low-quality material, but the Luna is different.
First impressions – impressive!
Windows Explorer-like navigation
Controls – Touch-sensitive buttons adds form not function
As mentioned earlier, the touch-sensitive buttons gives the entire unit a very sleek look. However, it takes time to get warmed up to them.
Firstly, they’re not very obvious. When I first got the unit, I couldn’t determine where the buttons are because they weren’t lit up. To light them up, I had to tap the top of the player. Then, it simply goes off after a few seconds. In my opinion, this on-off LED system is simply annoying.
Now you see it
Now you don't
Performance and features
For music, it does what it is expected to do. It plays MP3s and WMAs, and also supports lyric display. Simply give both the music and LRC files the same name, and they’ll work together when played on the Luna.
The vibrant LCD is excellent when displaying photographs. Most details of the pictures are nicely reproduced. Colors are vibrant as well. My main complaint is that it stretches every picture automatically to fit the widescreen. Human faces look disturbingly stretched. Even if you format the pictures to a widescreen format, it’ll somehow stretch the photos as well.
So, I went to download relevant tools to extract the information of the sample video, with the intention of using 3rd party converters to convert videos for the Luna.
The sample video (OppoMP4.AVI) has the following:
Video: XviD codec, 320 x 240, 20 fps
Audio codec: MP2, 44.1 KHz, 128 kbps
I followed the exact specifications and converted some video files. But, NONE of them worked on the player. I’ve tried different converters recommended by the forummers and used different source video files. Sadly, the hours spent troubleshooting yielded nothing.
Apart from media playback, the Luna has an eBook reader, FM radio, a sound recorder, calendar, and even a stopwatch feature.
Final Thoughts
Almost everybody (including me) who has seen the player for the first time thinks that the ID is very attractive. It’s slim, has a solid build, and an impressive widescreen LCD. My visual designer colleague also praised the player’s interaction menu, complimenting the detailed icons in particular. Extra features such as the eBook reader and FM radio give the multi-media player an added dimension. However, the touch-sensitive controls that are located at the top of the player are quite difficult to handle. Some don’t even realize that the buttons are there when the LEDs are off.
What personally I didn’t like was the fact that pictures are automatically stretched to fill the screen regardless of the resolution. This results in stretched faces and unnatural looking human beings. Also, video conversion was really painful. It’s disappointing that the video conversion software (both in the player and from the company’s official website) failed to install. It’s even more disappointing that none of my converted videos (using 3rd party applications) using the exact specifications of the sample video failed to work. To give Oppo a bit of credit, at least they’ve provided a converter, unlike most China branded portable media players.
In a nutshell, the player looks great and the screen is nice, but the controls can be more obvious. I also wish that more video formats can be supported.
The Oppo v5H MP4 player is a real steal at slightly over US$100!! Check out Oppo's official website here (it's in Chinese though)
First impressions – impressive!
The Luna fits nicely into my pudgy palms
The thing that strikes you immediately about the Luna is that it has a slim design (only 1.1cm thick), small enough to fit into your palm, and has a widescreen LCD.
The Luna’s thickness the similar to the Creative ZEN Stone
The finishing is refined, such that nothing juts out obtrusively. I suspect that the player’s back is made of anodized aluminum, which is great as it can prevent scratches and wear.
Brushed metal back of Luna
The finishing is refined, such that nothing juts out obtrusively. I suspect that the player’s back is made of anodized aluminum, which is great as it can prevent scratches and wear.
Touch-sensitive buttons are used instead of the usual tactile ones. While it makes the player sleeker, these buttons can be a bit difficult to use. I’ll elaborate more about the controls later on.
Touch-sensitive buttons are used instead of the usual tactile ones. While it makes the player sleeker, these buttons can be a bit difficult to use. I’ll elaborate more about the controls later on.
Linear User Interface
The UI is presented linearly. Meaning, you must navigate sideways to get to the desired task (as opposed to a grid-based layout). The icons are in 3-D and are quite detailed. As a typical consumer (not a full-fledged interface designer), I find them aesthetically pleasing and well designed. The “reflecting surface” seems very much Apple-inspired.
The UI is presented linearly. Meaning, you must navigate sideways to get to the desired task (as opposed to a grid-based layout). The icons are in 3-D and are quite detailed. As a typical consumer (not a full-fledged interface designer), I find them aesthetically pleasing and well designed. The “reflecting surface” seems very much Apple-inspired.
Main User Interface
Going into the menus, the Luna is similar to the Windows Explorer. Using the touch-buttons, you can move the cursor and select the file to play. Selecting a folder will go into it.
Windows Explorer-like navigationOn the whole, navigating around the player is OK. Anybody who is familiar with Windows navigation will have no problems with the way the menus are structured. However, there aren’t any sorting or ZEN hierarchy features, so you may get lost browsing through thousands of media files in this 2GB device. Interestingly, the files are not alphabetically listed. The last transferred file will be displayed at the bottom of the list.
Controls – Touch-sensitive buttons adds form not function
As mentioned earlier, the touch-sensitive buttons gives the entire unit a very sleek look. However, it takes time to get warmed up to them.
Firstly, they’re not very obvious. When I first got the unit, I couldn’t determine where the buttons are because they weren’t lit up. To light them up, I had to tap the top of the player. Then, it simply goes off after a few seconds. In my opinion, this on-off LED system is simply annoying.
Now you see it
Now you don'tThen, there’s not much space between each button, so tapping one button may cause the other to be tapped as well. As a result, the cursor either stays still or goes the unintended way. It also won’t work if you tap a little off the “sensitive” areas.
Typical scenario: While looking at the screen, you tap the buttons and nothing happens. Naturally you’ll adjust your fingers to tap the correct buttons (while still looking at the screen). Consequently, other buttons are accidentally tapped, and the cursor goes all over the place.
“M” is like the “Enter” key on the keyboard. You tap it to enter menus, play songs, etc. Now, who would have thought of that? To me, “M” stands for “Menu”.
Typical scenario: While looking at the screen, you tap the buttons and nothing happens. Naturally you’ll adjust your fingers to tap the correct buttons (while still looking at the screen). Consequently, other buttons are accidentally tapped, and the cursor goes all over the place.
“M” is like the “Enter” key on the keyboard. You tap it to enter menus, play songs, etc. Now, who would have thought of that? To me, “M” stands for “Menu”.
Performance and features
For music, it does what it is expected to do. It plays MP3s and WMAs, and also supports lyric display. Simply give both the music and LRC files the same name, and they’ll work together when played on the Luna.
The vibrant LCD is excellent when displaying photographs. Most details of the pictures are nicely reproduced. Colors are vibrant as well. My main complaint is that it stretches every picture automatically to fit the widescreen. Human faces look disturbingly stretched. Even if you format the pictures to a widescreen format, it’ll somehow stretch the photos as well.
Original photo
As seen on the Oppo Luna
Getting videos into the player is something that I failed to do. Oppo included the video converter with the player (stored within the flash memory). But, I could not unzip the rar package. Then, I searched through the forums, and found out that the converter can be downloaded via the company’s website. After downloading the 12MB package and launching the exe file, I get this:
So, I went to download relevant tools to extract the information of the sample video, with the intention of using 3rd party converters to convert videos for the Luna.The sample video (OppoMP4.AVI) has the following:
Video: XviD codec, 320 x 240, 20 fps
Audio codec: MP2, 44.1 KHz, 128 kbps
I followed the exact specifications and converted some video files. But, NONE of them worked on the player. I’ve tried different converters recommended by the forummers and used different source video files. Sadly, the hours spent troubleshooting yielded nothing.
Apart from media playback, the Luna has an eBook reader, FM radio, a sound recorder, calendar, and even a stopwatch feature.
Final Thoughts
Almost everybody (including me) who has seen the player for the first time thinks that the ID is very attractive. It’s slim, has a solid build, and an impressive widescreen LCD. My visual designer colleague also praised the player’s interaction menu, complimenting the detailed icons in particular. Extra features such as the eBook reader and FM radio give the multi-media player an added dimension. However, the touch-sensitive controls that are located at the top of the player are quite difficult to handle. Some don’t even realize that the buttons are there when the LEDs are off.
What personally I didn’t like was the fact that pictures are automatically stretched to fill the screen regardless of the resolution. This results in stretched faces and unnatural looking human beings. Also, video conversion was really painful. It’s disappointing that the video conversion software (both in the player and from the company’s official website) failed to install. It’s even more disappointing that none of my converted videos (using 3rd party applications) using the exact specifications of the sample video failed to work. To give Oppo a bit of credit, at least they’ve provided a converter, unlike most China branded portable media players.
In a nutshell, the player looks great and the screen is nice, but the controls can be more obvious. I also wish that more video formats can be supported.
The Oppo v5H MP4 player is a real steal at slightly over US$100!! Check out Oppo's official website here (it's in Chinese though)
Monday, August 21, 2006
RSS Feeds. What are they?
In my previous post, I talked about adding RSS feeds to your www.live.com home page, and how you can get the latest updates instantaneously from your favorite web sites.
I received some feedback, asking me what exactly is a RSS feed. Well, not knowing how RSS feeds work would make you completely clueless about my last post isn't it? So. Here's my attempt to explain what RSS is to the tech newbie.
A simple analogy is the subscription to a magazine. After you have subscribed to a magazine, when a new issue is available, it will be delivered straight to your door step. If you did not subscribe, you'll need to visit the news agent now and then, just to check if the latest issue is published.
Now, apply that analogy to the subscription of a RSS feed. If you subscribe to say, CNN.com, whenever CNN has a news update, the headline will appear “automatically”on your RSS reader (such as Mozilla's Thunderbird) or service (such as the reviewed www.live.com). But, if you did not subscribe to the RSS feed, you will have to log on to CNN.com, and hit F5 periodically just to check if there are any updates. Obviously, the first method of subscription is much more convenient.
So how exactly do you subscribe to a RSS feed? To keep things really simple, first, go download and install Mozilla's Firefox. I wanted to recommend Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 7, but it's in beta, and it screwed up my system's security settings. Install it at your own risk.
Anyway, after you've installed Firefox, just pay attention to right side of the address bar and look out for an orange symbol. I've highlight it in red, in the screenshot below.
If you see this symbol, it means that the website has a RSS feed that you can subscribe to. As you can see from the screenshot, my blog provides a RSS feed. In fact, this service comes automatic for all blogs generated by blogger.com. Click the symbol, and click “OK” on the ensuing dialog box.
Next, open Firefox's bookmarks by pressing CTRL-B, look for Tech Miser, right-click it and select properties.
The RSS feed is shown in “Feed Location”. Copy this, then go to www.live.com.
Assuming you have a page set up (if not, do read my previous post about setting up your own www.live.com page), click Add Stuff, followed by Advanced Options. Then, paste the RSS feed into the text box, highlighted below. Finally, click Subscribe to complete the process.
After you have subscribed to my blog, whenever I have a new post, you'll be the first to know. You can also catch my previous posts here.
Most websites would have RSS feeds by now. So when you see the orange RSS symbol, simply repeat my aforementioned instructions to subscribe to the content. Have fun!
And by the way, if you want a more detailed and technical article of what RSS is all about, do check out its wikipedia entry.
CE
I received some feedback, asking me what exactly is a RSS feed. Well, not knowing how RSS feeds work would make you completely clueless about my last post isn't it? So. Here's my attempt to explain what RSS is to the tech newbie.
A simple analogy is the subscription to a magazine. After you have subscribed to a magazine, when a new issue is available, it will be delivered straight to your door step. If you did not subscribe, you'll need to visit the news agent now and then, just to check if the latest issue is published.
Now, apply that analogy to the subscription of a RSS feed. If you subscribe to say, CNN.com, whenever CNN has a news update, the headline will appear “automatically”on your RSS reader (such as Mozilla's Thunderbird) or service (such as the reviewed www.live.com). But, if you did not subscribe to the RSS feed, you will have to log on to CNN.com, and hit F5 periodically just to check if there are any updates. Obviously, the first method of subscription is much more convenient.
So how exactly do you subscribe to a RSS feed? To keep things really simple, first, go download and install Mozilla's Firefox. I wanted to recommend Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 7, but it's in beta, and it screwed up my system's security settings. Install it at your own risk.
Anyway, after you've installed Firefox, just pay attention to right side of the address bar and look out for an orange symbol. I've highlight it in red, in the screenshot below.
If you see this symbol, it means that the website has a RSS feed that you can subscribe to. As you can see from the screenshot, my blog provides a RSS feed. In fact, this service comes automatic for all blogs generated by blogger.com. Click the symbol, and click “OK” on the ensuing dialog box.
Next, open Firefox's bookmarks by pressing CTRL-B, look for Tech Miser, right-click it and select properties.
The RSS feed is shown in “Feed Location”. Copy this, then go to www.live.com.
Assuming you have a page set up (if not, do read my previous post about setting up your own www.live.com page), click Add Stuff, followed by Advanced Options. Then, paste the RSS feed into the text box, highlighted below. Finally, click Subscribe to complete the process.
After you have subscribed to my blog, whenever I have a new post, you'll be the first to know. You can also catch my previous posts here.
Most websites would have RSS feeds by now. So when you see the orange RSS symbol, simply repeat my aforementioned instructions to subscribe to the content. Have fun!
And by the way, if you want a more detailed and technical article of what RSS is all about, do check out its wikipedia entry.
CE
Thursday, July 27, 2006
New Canon 5 Megapixel Camera for only $200
Wow. With a stroke of luck, I managed to get a brand new Canon Digital IXUS i Zoom for only $200! The street price is around $599. Grand savings of $399!
Actually, I bought a 2nd hand Digital IXUS IIs from my boss for $200. But, that particular model has a CCD mounting problem (which he and I didn't know when the deal was done). The "glue" used is not suitable for the humid weather here in the tropics. Sure enough, after using the camera for a few months, the CCD came loose, and it couldn't pick up anything. To my horror, all the pictures taken on my short holiday were blank.
Luckily, Canon acknowledged the problem, and gave free repairs, no questions asked. I went to the service center in Febuary, they took in the IXUS IIs, and gave me a loan camera as a replacement.
Half a year later, they sent me a letter, saying that I can choose to keep the loan camera, or get back my old, repaired camera.
Let's see.....
Canon Digital IXUS IIs
Canon Digital IXUS i Zoom
I think it's a forgone conclusion. The Digital IXUS i Zoom it will be.
There you have it ladies and gentlemen, a new Canon camera for 1/3 of the original price! So my advice is, get a cheap, 2nd hand IXUS IIs!
CE
Actually, I bought a 2nd hand Digital IXUS IIs from my boss for $200. But, that particular model has a CCD mounting problem (which he and I didn't know when the deal was done). The "glue" used is not suitable for the humid weather here in the tropics. Sure enough, after using the camera for a few months, the CCD came loose, and it couldn't pick up anything. To my horror, all the pictures taken on my short holiday were blank.
Luckily, Canon acknowledged the problem, and gave free repairs, no questions asked. I went to the service center in Febuary, they took in the IXUS IIs, and gave me a loan camera as a replacement.
Half a year later, they sent me a letter, saying that I can choose to keep the loan camera, or get back my old, repaired camera.
Let's see.....
- 3.2 MP vs 5.3 MP
- 2x zoom vs 2.4x zoom
- 2004 model (older) vs 2005 model (newer)
- Chunky vs Sleek
Canon Digital IXUS IIs
Canon Digital IXUS i ZoomThere you have it ladies and gentlemen, a new Canon camera for 1/3 of the original price! So my advice is, get a cheap, 2nd hand IXUS IIs!
CE
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