mip's scan

The Rise of eBooks & the eReader

eBook and eReaders have been around for some time now.  I had used a Cybook for some time, but always found it to be poorly constructed (plastic) and not easy to get books from my Mac to the unit.  It was also sluggish at times, which detracted from the experience.

Still, I very much liked the ability to carry multiple books with me when I wanted.  I never wrote a post about my experience as I felt I didn't have much to say beyond my personal opinion, which was, that the eReader was something I liked, but not entirely practical or ready for prime time.

A short while I go, I started using the Sony eReader.  It was the Touch edition that allowed me to literally "flip" pages.  The device is incredibly solid; very well built.  I have very much enjoyed using it and like the fact that it is more open than other units, like the Kindle (for a comparison of the features, click here).  I particularly like being able to download books from the Toronto library. As with my original eReader, I like the immediacy of buying a book and downloading it.  It is akin to the way I buy music and movies. 

The question for today's post is whether this device will replace the physical book?  Will students, for example, carry an electronic reader rather than house dozens of textbooks in their lockers and school bags?  Blyth Academy here in Toronto has begun to utilize the Sony eReader.  The video announcing this historic move is below.  Will this be something that catches on? 

Testing the Rogers Rocket Wireless Stick

Over the past year I’ve looked at technologies that allow me to work effectively while on the go. For connectivity I’ve often relied on WiFi access points that might be found at vendor offices, client locations, hotels or coffee shops. While often these resources work out, they aren’t always ideal. Many times, when I needed connectivity the most, that was the time I just couldn’t get a WiFi access point to work effectively. 

That is why, some time ago I decided to pickup a Rogers wireless USB modem also called Rogers Rocket Internet. This device from Rogers is a Novatel piece of hardware that is like a slightly oversized USB memory key. I usually keep in my bag or sometimes even in my pocket. When needed I simply plug it into the USB port to get it up and running. So, what has the experience been like? 

What's All The Fuss About Netbooks?

I must admint that netbooks are a tech that puzzled me somewhat.  For a time I felt they were too small and, more importantly for me, too underpowered.  Of course, what I was thinking about were mini laptops that I tested over the years - there was no netbook category.  They were ultraportable laptops like a Sony UX50 or a Fujitsu Lifebook.  I liked their size (for the most part) but found them to be pokey/sluggish when it came to performance.  I loved the concept of the OQO as this really tiny computer you could use at your desk, plugged into a keyboard and monitor.  Then, when you had to leave the office, you simply grabbed the OQO, put it in your pocket and off you go.  A very appealing idea for me.  The problem again, was performance.  The device is somewhat underpowered.  The other issue - price.  You were really paying a premium for that portability.

All those things I mentioned above came back to me (mixed feelings) when I started to see this new category emerge called Netbooks.  They have been taking the markets by storm though, in a time when laptops and PCs have been taking a beating.  I often see articles that talk about how business users are warming to the netbook and how the overseas market has been soaring for these low powered mini devices, but still I scratched my head in wonderment.

Livescribe Pen

Over the years I have tried a number of tablet PCs in an attempt to have something that I could write my notes on and they'd then exist on my computer.  Try and try again, no matter what devices I've tried, the promise of enhanced note taking just hasn't been there for me unfortunately.  This lack of value for me was due to any number of things, such as:

• size of the unit - either they are too big and clunky to carry around or they are too small to effectively use
• battery life - nothing worse than having the unit not turn on in a meeting or die half-way through the meeting due to a drained battery 
• format of the notes - too often, systems I tried used some kind of proprietary format for the files that contained my hand written notes, effectively trapping my notes if I ever wanted to change systems 

Despite the above shortcomings however, I have still lusted quested for the holy grail that would enable me to hand write my notes, but still have them captured digitally.  Several months ago, my prayers were answered and I'm here to tell you about one of the most  valuable devices I've had the pleasure to use in the past year.  

I'm talking about the Livescribe Smart Pen, which has transformed my note taking in absolutely wonderful ways.  You can of course can all kinds of technical details on the Pulse Smart Pen from Livescribe over at their site, but I'd like to relay some real world experience with this little wonder.

A Quick Look at the iPod Touch

So for the past while I've been enjoying the use of the iPod Touch.  There have been numerous reviews of this device and so I'm not going to do an exhaustive review of every little feature here.  Suffice it to say that the iPod Touch lives up to the hype.  Often with new technology, the hype around a new product grows so large that when the device is finally released it has no chance of living up to the hype surrounding it.  The iPod Touch (and first the iPhone) had a lot of hype.  I'm happy to say though that it all works as advertised.  Dive into the video review I've got below; there I'll step through some of some of the smaller, not often mentioned aspects of this device.  It is the little things, the small attention to detail that Apple gives it products, that really enhance the ongoing use of a product.

A Demo of the Sony DSC-T200

Hi everyone!  I'm so glad to see a lively discussion taking place at the 2 posts I created regarding the DSC-T200 digital camera from Sony (you can see them here and here). So here is a my follow on post with a video demonstration of this great little camera.  You can see th video below and then I've got some further details and photos samples after you click through the rest of this post!

Awaiting the iPod Touch

Of course by now you know that Apple introduced a refresh to its iPod line and in that announcement, the also introduced the iPod Touch.  I can hardly wait for this device to arrive!  I didn't want to write anything about the iPod Touch until I'd actually received it, because I like to be able to give firsthand info about the tech I write about, and not just regurgitate the news.  And rest assured, I will do a detailed post on the iPod Touch when I receive it at the end of September / start of October. 

But I thought I'd would post a thought about one application I am really looking forward to using on my iPod Touch, an application that hasn't appeared anywhere in the demos or other press releases.  I'm looking forward to being able to use Typepad, the tool I use for posting my blog.  I read with interest the details this morning as I was working on some posts-in-progress.

I have a small Typepad app on my HTC smartphone that I've used from time-to-time, but I find it to be a very bare-bones, lackluster application that misses key functionality for me. The Typepad interface for the iPhone looks gorgeous, but more than that, it looks very functional.  It allows me to manage my blog and not just put out posts.  I like that a lot.  I have found that the Typepad application I use on my HTC is more like a simple text editor, while the one for the iPhone give a much richer end-user experience to make posting blog items as natural as when sitting down at your computer.  Of course, to use this on an iPod Touch, you'd need to be leveraging the WiFi rather than being to type up a post and then simply push it out.  But the reality for me is that I'm always around WiFi enabled locations, from my home, to coffee shops to being up at the cottage, so I don't see this as being an issue. I think being able to simply turn my iPod Touch on its side, have the screen automatically go into landscape mode and begin typing posts will be an absolute joy!

And so, of course there will be many many things for me to like about the new iPod Touch, but knowing I can blog easily from it is the icing on the cake for me.  The sad part is....the end of September seems so far away. 

Stay tuned for more!

I Received My Sony DSC-T200

I was thrilled to receive my DSC-T200 2 days ago!  You'll recall that I wrote about it a short while ago and that I'd pre-ordered it before it even officially went on sale!  Well, after 2 days of playing with this camera, I must say, I am very pleased.  There are several things I really like about the T200.  First, I like the size.  It is so compact!  It is also very light.  I carried it in my shirt pocket yesterday and hardly noticed it was there. 

Secondly, I love the display screen.  It is huge!  At 3.5" it takes up the entire back of the unit.  That of course does have one thing that will take getting use to - where to grab/hold the camera.  It is an odd feeling when taking a picture to only hold the camera by the outer frame since if I hold it as I normally held my old camera, I am really holding it by the screen!   But the large LCD screen is great for viewing pictures.  It is also a touch screen and I find it to be a very natural set of controls.  Of course, with any such "touch" device, carrying a small cloth to wipe the screen is a must. 

The face detection and smile shutter work exactly as advertised.  I love those two features.  What is nice about the smile shutter is that once you select the subject by tapping the face, the camera will not take a picture until that person smiles.  As soon as they smile...CLICK...the camera shoots the picture.  What is nice is that it will go on tracking the face and keep taking pictures each time they smile until you press the shutter button again.  This will be nice for birthdays as the kids unwrap gifts.  I'll just keep the camera trained on them and as soon as they smile as they unwrap that "I-absolutely-wanted-this-gift" - CLICK - the shot will be captured. 

I will give a more detailed review once I've used the camera a bit more and I'll post some sample shots.  I love that I can shot in 16:9 format - looks awesome on my widescreen Macbook Pro.   I'll probably include some video in the review since it'll be hard to have the DSC-T200 take pictures of itself!

Is the Pen Mightier Than The Computer?

This post comes from watching my daughter use a new piece of tech.  It is called the Fly Fusion and basically, it is a pen with smarts.  To understand how it works (because this is not a review of than pen - that will come later once I shoot some video) check out their Fly World site.  Watching my daughter use this pen as she wrote on paper, but was capturing it into her computer, it got me thinking.

After all these years that computers have promised the paperless environment (homes, offices, schools, etc), we still have paper, and lots of it.  The computer promised it, but never got there.  The Tablet PC promised it, but that never really took off.  Could it be that perhaps we've been chasing the wrong the dream and shouldn't be striving for a paperless world?  Could it be that we need to embrace the 5000 year old technology we call paper?  Perhaps the future is not in desktop, laptop or palmtop computing, but rather, perhaps it is pentop computing?

Smile: Sony DSC-T200

My tried, trusted and true Canon Powershot that I got 6 years ago has finally reached the end of the line for me.  The battery hardly hold a charge, the sliding cover has become so loose that at times when it is opened the camera doesn't turn on.  I love this camera.  It has been a good little 4 megapixel camera for me, capturing thousands of pictures of the past 6 years.

Alas, I have been hunting for a new camera and had several important objectives.  Obviously, it has to take good pictures, and I wanted a decent optical zoom.  I also wanted a camera with a large LCD display for viewing pics.  Laslty, I wanted something that would shoot in HD.  Well, minutes ago, I pre-ordered a newly released camera from Sony, the DSC-T200.  I can't wait for this to arrive.  It has some very impressive features.  Read on to find out what has me so excited about this sleek camera.