I love new toys.  It had been a while (at least two weeks) since my last one.  I was sitting next to Howard Morgan at a meeting catching up and he asked me if I had gotten a Sony Reader (PRS-500) yet.  Both of us are voracious readers and travelers – picture me lugging at least three books with me wherever I go.

Howard said the Sony Reader had changed his reading life.  I bought one online that afternoon (Sony uses Intershop software for their ecommerce – man – I’d forgotten they still existed.)  I read my first book on it today – Simple Genius by David Baldacci. 

It was awesome (the book and the Sony Reader.)  I loaded it up with a couple of David Halberstam books and I’ll leave the pile of hardback books behind on my seven day trip next week. 

I had an early ebook device (I can’t remember who it was from) and it was “ok” but too big, too heavy, the battery life was too short, and the screen wasn’t quite right.  The Sony Reader seems to nail it all and after spending four hours with it this afternoon, I’m looking forward to my next book on it.

I’ll check back in after a few more books and tell you if I’m still loving it.

They joy of having an “IT guy” (aka Ross) around is that he willingly expresses his opinion whenever given the chance.  Since he plays around with even more stuff than I do, one of the ways I learn to is listen to him rant and rave about things he’s played with.  A few weeks ago, it was his lousy experience with the iTunes Music Store for video.  That post generated some useful comments – especially around DRM.  Ross fired off another rant – this time a positive one about his experience with CinemaNow – along with a general response to the comments on the previous post.  Again – I’ve lightly edited to fix spelling and grammar, but left the IT guy essence intact.  Ross follows…

First, I’ll respond to some of the comments on why I support DRM. Let me be clear, I support DRM in concept – that concept being that you should be able to purchase something and use it anywhere you want. Your iPod, your smartphone, your TV, your computer, whatever. You should not be able to share that file with anyone else, period. That’s how DRM should work, and if it did work that way no one would really have any reason to complain. However, DRM does not work that way, which is why all current DRM technologies are flawed. Fred Wilson put it well saying that it’s all about “dial tone” – you pay your monthly fee to get your pipe of media and that’s it. The rest should be transparent.

The other comments that stuck with me were about the about the quality of music on iTunes and that while I’m savvy enough to have a serious media room setup that I didn’t know going in that this would suck. On the first point let me clarify that I think the quality of music purchased through iTunes is excellent. It could be better, but it is good enough for my iPod and good enough for most people’s uses. What I mean by good enough is that most consumers will notice zero difference between an iTunes file and a ripped MP3. Most consumers just don’t care and they don’t have the ears that I have (and I was a music major in college so I have pretty tough ears.)  Regarding knowing going in that this would suck – I should have known.  I figured it would, but I fell victim to a sudden bout of optimism and I wanted to go into it without any preconceived notions.

Ok – enough old stuff – let’s get to my point for this week. Yesterday Melanie and I were out of movies. We’d sent back our Netflix movies earlier in the week and were expecting more to show up on Saturday. For the first time Netflix failed us and we had nothing new to watch. Being lazy (c’mon – give me a break – I’m an IT guy) I didn’t want to drive to Blockbuster so this gave me the perfect opportunity to try out CinemaNow to watch a movie. While Melanie was, uh, less than thrilled about this idea (after our iTunes mess) but she agreed to give it a try. I ran to my PC and started setting up a new account.

Setting up a new account was.  Within two minutes I was ready to purchase a movie. We started looking through them and found the first problem, a very limited selection. We eventually settled on Junebug (which was not a comedy despite the claim that it was – but it was very good.) I proceeded to purchase it ($3.99 seemed steep to me) and download it. My home theater is built around a HP z545 Media Center PC connected to my HD projector (720p) and then connected to my high end Onkyo receiver for 7.1 surround sound. This was going to be the real test – could we watch a movie, downloaded over the net on this system, and have it look great?

After purchasing the movie it started to download. After this began I got a count down timer letting me know that the movie would be ready to watch in 30 seconds.  That’s smart – progressive downloading – we weren’t expecting that – so we let it download the entire movie while we got ready.

Ok, so now it’s time to watch. It’s downloaded, I’m ready to go, Melanie’s ready (as are our dogs) so let’s hit play. Guess what – it didn’t play! It needs to download some security update for Windows Media Player. I’m thinking, “damn it, not this again!” 10 seconds later the download is done and it’s starting to play. Not only does it work, but it looks outstanding – very close to DVD quality.  During the entire movie I didn’t see a single compression artifact, the video didn’t skip, and the sound was perfect (but it was NOT Dolby Digital 5.1 – something had to fall short.)

Overall, I was delighted.  CinemaNow has this figured out and knows how to deliver something of real value to the consumer – congrats guys, you’ve won a customer. Now, get the price down or offer an unlimited or capped subscription and I’m 100% there and dropping Netflix. Oh, and add some more movies while you’re at it (studios listen up, this is how consumers will get movies in the future.)

When I was in Aspen in December, I once again found myself sitting in a house with Internet access (via DSL) but without wireless.  This time there were only three of us competing for the Internet cable but that was two too many.  We all had wireless adapters in our computers so we grumbled to each other that there must be a better way.

I was determined to find an inexpensive, portable, easy to set up Internet wireless base station.  My primary computer is a Windows box so I went through all the logical network gear vendors.  Everything I saw was big, bulky, or stupid looking.  For some reason I wandered over to the Apple site and took a look at the Apple AirPort Express with Air Tunes.  It was love at first sight – perfect size, the functionality I was looking for, and a fair price.  I jumped over to the Amazon site and with 1–Click I bought it hoping it would work.

I installed it tonight.  It took 15 minutes and had only one issue – the CD-ROM installer choked during the install on my Windows computer because I had a “new version of iTunes.”  While that’s a stupid error, it was easy to fix by going to the Apple site, downloading the latest version of AirPort 4.2 for Windows, and installing again.

The setup was trivial and completely obvious.  The only tricky thing to know is that if you want to have an encrypted network that both Macs and PCs can access, you need to use WEP, which requires exactly a 13 character password (yeah – good luck – it took a little while to come up with a 13 character password I could remember.) 

While I’ve only tried this at home, it worked exactly as expected.  As a result, the Apple AirPort Express with Air Tunes gets Toy of the Month status.

Another day, another question to answer that was stuck in my “answer this question on your blog” someday folder in Outlook. 

When I got my new IBM X41 tablet in September, I wrote a glowing review of it.  I recently was asked if I still like it – three months later I’m still loving it.  Laptops usually last me six months, so let’s see how I feel on April 1st.  Ironically, I’m not using it as a tablet much (occasionally when I’m lying on the couch reading while listening to music, I’ll flip it into tablet mode so it (a) takes up less space and (b) I can monitor my email without having to move around each time something arrives in my inbox.  However, as a standard, hardworking laptop, it’s great.

So Brad was pretty bored by my first two reviews so I figured I’d tackle something a bit more complex this time around, the Roku PhotoBridge HD. In short the PhotoBridge HD allows you to stream audio, video, and pictures from PC’s connected to your network to your television/home theater – all in high definition, or at least that’s the idea.

I got my PhotoBridge back in June while I was recovering from surgery. I was excited to get it as I’d been following this class of product for quite a while. I specifically wanted the PhotoBridge as it was the first (and only at the time) device that would stream video in HD – something that was key to me to use with my new plasma TV.

However, I was painfully disappointed.

I had one primary goal for the PhotoBridge – to allow me to stream DVD’s in their native resolution from my PC to my home theater – allowing me to build a mini-jukebox of DVD’s that I could watch at any time (like my TiVo). It failed, miserably. There are several reasons why, the biggest being that the PhotoBridge is not ready for prime time. As I suggested on their forums (which are thankfully very active) it should be called a “reference platform” since the one key thing they did right is run embedded Linux on it. As a result of this and the fact that they have released an API (albeit a very limited one) there are several third party software applications that almost get it there.

Almost.  The main reason I gave up was that in the end it wouldn’t support subtitles, DTS sound, DVD menus, true fast forward/rewind (it only had 30 second jumps), and was extremely buggy. The interface is terrible, the remote is lousy, the software is limited, it locks up constantly, and you have to jump through hoops to get basic things to work. One positive – photos look amazing on an HD set – really awesome. However, while I love to play with toys when it comes to my home theater I just want things to work. After 40 hours with the PhotoBridge (upgrading, reinstalling, reading, posting, reading, installing, tweaking) I punted and sold it on eBay. Up next, the Buffalo Linktheater Hi-def Mediaplayer (should be here this week).

As for the PhotoBridge I give it a strong pass, that is unless you feel like playing with something that in the end will never live up to the marketing hype. Very disappointed.  … Ross

Ross (and everyone else that has one) appears to love their Nano’s but they have this little annoying “scratching problem.” I’m trying to encourage Ross to stop playing with his Nano long enough to play with something new, but so far I’ve failed.  He has, however, found a solution to that scratching thing.

As you all know I recently got an iPod Nano. As you also probably know from my review the iPod Nano has had some rather bad screen scratching issues. After getting some feedback from users on the invisibleSHIELD line of protectors I decided that I’d give them a try. I’m very glad that I did.

While other protectors look cool (some with cartoon characters on them) this one seemed to get better reviews. I assumed it would work like many of the other “stick-on” protectors where you peel the film off and have to be careful to stick it on without any air bubbles.  I wrong (and pleasantly surprised).  While it’s very hard to apply it, once you get it on it is well worth the effort. Take a look at the videos demonstrating the material – it’s actually the same material that is used for clear bras on cars.

Once you get it on the Nano (it took me about 30 minutes) you have to let it dry overnight so the glue sets. Once it’s dry, it’s virtually invisible.  It does make the Nano a little less smooth – which really is a good thing since it was hard to use the jog wheel when it was that slick anyway. I’ve shown it to several friends and no one could tell the protector was on it until I pointed it out.  If you have, or are planning to get, a Nano (or any other iPod for that matter) get one of these to go with it.

Dear Ross – ok – I’m protected – now give me something new and exciting to play with.

Ross Carlson – who is my “IT guy” – loves to play with toys even more than I do.  I suggested that he start writing some of them up and I’d post them on my blog.  He’s started with a tame one which happens to be my toy of the month also (Nano – sweet) – look for the wild, wacky, and esoteric nerd toy reviews to start to appear occasionally.

Recently I (Ross) was lucky enough to get an Apple 2 GB iPod Nano (so was Brad). I’d seen the ads, read the reviews, and was really looking forward to finally getting one. This would be my third iPod (Brad has N where N is a large number) – I’ve also got an Apple 1 GB iPod Shuffle that I use for data and to boot Linux (oh yeah and music too) and an Apple 40 GB iPod. I wasn’t exactly sure how I’d use this iPod but after seeing it I knew I wanted it. I was right.

When you see pictures of it you know it’s going to be small. Hell, it’s thinner than a pencil. You don’t really get how small it is until you hold it – it’s amazing. Like many Apple products, once you see it you have to hold it and once you’re holding it you can’t put it down. So, ok, it’s thin but what else? It’s obvious that having a color screen is nice – but it’s more than nice. Remember back when the first color cell phones came out and we all thought it was kinda silly? Everyone quickly realized that the huge benefit of color isn’t necessarily that it’s color (which is great don’t get me wrong) but that you can read it so much easier. That’s what’s great thing about the Nano screen – while it’s not super high res it still looks great making everything so much more readable.

Sound quality is what you’d expect from an iPod – excellent. The Nano includes the same ear buds as all previous iPods. Navigation is just like previous photo iPods. The new smaller click wheel with the big center button is easy to operate making accessing everything a snap. Syncing with iTunes for music and photos is easy – even though I hate iTunes with a passion. So far I haven’t found any third party software for the Nano like I use for my other iPod and my Shuffle.

Ok, so I love it but I’ve got to hate something right? Scratches. If you haven’t read about the scratching problems (here, here, here, here, or here) then keep reading – and read carefully. Due to all the scratching issues I’ve read I haven’t removed the protective sticker that came on it and I haven’t used it much yet (only enough to write this review). It’s sitting in my 3rd generation doc right now (ah Apple, smart enough not change the dock connector for every model) waiting for the protective case I ordered. Order a case for it when you order the Nano. One other minor thing – the headphone jack is at the bottom, not the top. This isn’t that big of a deal but the top would be better. The problem is the thing is so thin they couldn’t fit the screen and the connector at the top.

The Nano is what you’ve come to expect from Apple iPods – it’s great looking, great sounding, easy to use, and amazingly small. If you’ve been considering a smaller sized portable player this is probably it. It comes in 2 GB and 4 GB versions, holding 500 and 1000 songs respectively. Highly recommended.

I’m hell on laptops.  I fondly remember my first Compaq luggable (aka “the sewing machine”) – it’s still up in my parent’s attic somewhere.  Every year or so I get a new one, and my IBM T40 had served me well. 

I’ve been jonesing for a tablet PC for a while.  I tried the first Compaq when it was released (it sucked – returned) and recently tried the new HP Compaq Tablet PC tc4200 (ok, but lousy screen and marginal keyboard – returned). 

So – it was with relatively low expectations that I awaited my IBM X41.  It was released in June and it didn’t show up until mid-August.  But – it was worth every minute of the wait.  This is the first tablet I’ve used that is completely interchangeable with a laptop (e.g. you want a laptop – fine, you want a tablet – fine.)  While this is a Lenovo computer (instead of IBM), I can’t tell the difference between it and my IBM T40 (which was an IBM computer) – the IBM to Lenovo handoff appears seamless so far. 

Without question, this was the best toy of the month.  I’m only five days into September, but I came home to a few fun toys, so next month may have some competition.

After watching my Roomba’s play with each other I was hopeful that I’d come across something that inspired and excited me as much as a robotic vacuum cleaner for this month’s toy of the month.  While my friend Jeff Hyman, Dyson’s VP of Marketing, sent me (actually, he sent Amy) the most amazing vacuum cleaner I’ve ever encountered (the Dyson DC15), I felt there must be some unwritten rule that I couldn’t choose a vacuum cleaner as toy of the month two months in a row (or someone might make fun of me), so I’ll reserve the detailed post on the Dyson DC15 for later, but you can be comfortable knowing that we set it up, plugged it in, and then proceeded to chase the Roomba’s around the room with it.

This month’s toy is something I used 15 times (each time I went for a run) – a set of Nike SB HJ020 Lightweight Sport Headphones.  I’ve fallen in love with running with my iPod Shuffle (ah – the podcast revolution has finally caught up with me) but the stupid white trendy headphones that Apple supplies kept falling out of my ears.  On a whim, I bought a pair of Nike sport headphones; they are simply awesome.  I know I’m in headphone heaven if – after a two hour run – I’ve forgotten they are in my ears.  If you are a serious runner or biker and you like to listen to music while you do your thing, you must try these.

A few blog readers sent me some toys to play with (a nice surprise – thanks!)  The first one was a Flash Flight – a “light-up” frisbee.  Very cool, and sure to mystify my dogs when I return to Boulder.  The company that makes them is Niteize (based in Boulder) – they make a bunch of neat flashlight, lights, frisbees, and light up products.  The other was a set of Plantronics DP-500 headphones – they’ll get a good workout next month on Skype and I’ll report back later.  If you feel compelled to send – or recommend – a toy to me – I’m all ears (with headphones inserted at appropriate times.)

I’ve always had poor impulse control when it comes to buying electronic toys.  Amazon hasn’t helped, as I can satisfy my cravings with a single click.  While I was listening to Daily Source Code from a few days ago on my run, I heard Adam Curry talking about how the Amazon affiliate feeds from the ad on his site for a Senseo HD7810/65 Single Serve Coffee Machine was making him enough dough to buy his whole family a cup of joe each day ($300–ish / month).  The combination of partially subsidized toys, daily coffee, and the idea that all my really cool toys have a story inspired me to start a “toy of the month” category on my blog. 

July’s toy is a Roomba 4210 Discovery Floorvac Robotic Vacuum Cleaner from iRobot.  Amazon delivered two of them to my house in Homer on Wednesday and I set them up the other day (one upstairs / one downstairs).  We named them after our dogs (Denali is the upstairs one / Kenai is the downstairs one).  We had an old model at our house in Boulder which – like the one Tom Evslin has blogged about – would do its thing and then eventually run out of batteries and fall asleep wherever it happened to be at the time.  No longer – the new ones are super smart and come with a docking station.  When they get tired, they simply find their way back to their docks and recharged themselves (and do a funky robot wiggle dance to get lined up to go into the dock.)

The best part of getting my new robotic pets is watching Amy play with them.  She misses our golden retrievers a lot (ok – I do also) and she’s obsessed with vacuuming so what could be better than watching my wife watch a robotic vacuum cleaner do its thing (very effectively – I might add)?  She even jumped up and down with happiness when the little blue dirt detect light came on and Kenai spent more time getting the dirt I tracked in cleaned up.

iRobot will go down in my history as one of those companies I was too stupid to invest in.  I’ve had plenty of chances to invest in successful companies that I’ve passed on.  David Cowan has a great list of deals Bessemer chose not to do (their anti-portfolio) that went on to be huge winners.  The phrase “Robotic Vacuum Cleaner? – c’mon” comes to mind.  However, I don’t have any excuses here – Colin Angle – the CEO of iRobot – is a frat brother and a friend (when we are old and gray, at least I’ll still be able to say “I was Colin’s pledge trainer.”)  Colin even called me for advice when they were raising a round a few years ago and said “hey Brad – would you guys have any interest in taking a look?”  I thought to myself – “robotic vacuum cleaners – now, my partners will NEVER support me on that one – remember Feld, you’re a software guy” and – after a short discussion with several of them – decided to pass on taking a serious look.

Dumb dumb dumb.  iRobot has sold over 1 million vacuum cleaners, has announced Scooba – the robotic floor washer (er – mop) and – well – is just kicking ass as a company.  Congrats Colin and gang.  Maybe I can contribute a little to helping keep the world cleaner by helping sell a few robots. If you have poor impulse control, a wife that likes to watch robots vacuum, or just want to play with a robot (it comes with a serial port and the rumor is that an API will be released soon), buy yourself a Roomba.