Sidingsound

The title here is a bit of an in-joke—as you probably saw if you came in via my Twitter feed, new posts here are prefixed automatically with the words “New blog post: [title]” (work it out ).However, it is actually accurate in this case, as this post really does concern a new blog, that I’ve just set up on wordpress.com.

Eee 701 Planetoid is aptly named, being (a) a “satellite” of the Sidingsound blog, and (b) devoted entirely to my latest acquisition: an Asus Eee PC 701 “netbook” computer, and my various activities with it. I’ll be using “E7P” almost like a running diary of my “Eeexploits” (sorry), with ‘hacks”, fixes, useful apps, tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way, which I think might help other owners of this small but perfectly-formed machine, to get the most out of it.

I’ve posted at the Planetoid for the first time, with a couple of initial impressions I had of the Eee, and there will be a good few more over the coming days as I get to grips with the computer and start tweaking it to my requirements. Whilst I don’t intend to cross-post between the blogs that often, I’ll add Planetoid to the “lifestream” page shortly, so you can see when updates are posted there. (My Twitter page will also be updated with new Planetoid posts, though I still have to find out how to get wordpress.com to let me use bit.ly for short URLs, so I can find out how many visitors use them.)

So, jet on over to Eee 701 Planetoid and take a look, and I hope you enjoy your stay

Steve Litchfield, the mobile technology journalist and creator/presenter of The Phones Show, made a somewhat poignant comment on his Twitter feed a few days back:

Kind of sad that in 2009, I choose my smartphone based on the premise of “Which one sucks the least” 8-(

I replied via Twitter that the net effect of finding out about the smartphones currently on the market, has been to strengthen my inclination to hang onto my venerable Nokia N95 “classic” until it falls utterly to pieces, expires in a puff of smoke or otherwise “goes to join the choir invisible”. (Obviously, I expressed that within the 140 characters allowed, but you catch my drift )

Whilst it’s no secret that I like my gadgets, I don’t feel the need to ensure that they are the “latest, greatest and up-to-datest”—put simply, if they do what I want them to do, they could look like a potato or run on clockwork as far as I care. The N95 is a case in point: it does many things, it does most of them very well, it is still working fine, the firmware (operating software) is now mature and reliable, and I am genuinely happy with it (and yes, I have watched the competition closely, as you’ll see).

I upgraded to my N95 in the summer of 2007, and whilst it has been superseded by seemingly countless models in the ensuing two years, there hasn’t been a single handset from any manufacturer in my view, which has matched the range of features (and competency at them) which the N95 offers, for a price which doesn’t leave me glancing nervously at the monthly household budget.

Oh, there have been a couple of phones which “came close”, and to name but three:

• the Nokia N82 offered most of the same features as the N95, and added a xenon flash to make it possibly the most capable cameraphone on the market;
• the Samsung i8910 packs HD (720p) video recording and a great screen, but is expensive and only available in the UK on Orange, who apparently “could’ve done better” with the software; and
• the new Nokia N900 “internet tablet” looks great, but again the price is likely to be eye-watering, and we’ll have to see if my network offers it (as I don’t want to switch).

When it comes down to basics, though: quite simply, I’m generally content with my N95, and even more so with the monthly tariff I’m on with my network, which is now really quite modest whilst suiting my needs nicely.

Of course, there’s the question of what I’d do if my N95 failed, broke beyond repair, suffered some nasty accident (dropped in the toilet, fell in a cement mixer, etc.), and I had to replace it. Assuming I couldn’t get a replacement N95 without going on eBay or the like, and I wanted a new phone, there’s only really one handset which I think would offer me similar features (though not all of them) at a fairly low cost, and that’s the Nokia E75. I would be sacrificing two megapixels of camera resolution (and the Carl Zeiss lens) and video editor of the N95, but I would be gaining a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and USB charging (and possibly more), and retaining many of the N95 features I use.

I don’t know if my network would offer the E75 at the time I would “need” it, or if there will be a better alternative by that stage. However, I’m hoping that my N95 has at least a year or two more in it, so I can make the most of possibly the best all-round smartphone Nokia has ever produced. And nearly three years on from its introduction, I think that’s no small achievement.

A minor earthquake has rumbled Sidingsound Towers. Yesterday, some friends of ours loaned us their Nintendo Wii.

It all came out of a passing comment one of us made in conversation, to the effect that we’d been to a couple of other friends’ houses, and they’d fired up the Wii console and shown us Wii Fit, Super Mario Kart, Wii Sports, and so on, and that for the first time we thought we wouldn’t mind trying one ourselves.

“Well, we don’t get much time to play on ours, so why don’t you borrow it for a bit and see how you get on?”

Well, we did just that… and now I’m wondering if it was a wise decision, as suffice it to say: we’re hooked

I was surprised just how quickly I was able to set up the console (although admittedly I’m quite technically-minded). I think that if we end up buying our own Wii, I would invest in the A/V cable with the SCART socket; the bundled component-video cable does the job, but the three phono plugs look a bit unsightly hanging off the front of our TV.

Linking the Wii up to our home wireless router took less than five minutes, and worked first time, after which the console was able to fetch the news and weather details for the “home screen” (one of my favourite features, which I think I would use regularly).

One of the most fun activities for the three of us, was making our “Mii”s (the cartoon-like figures which represent you in many Wii games).Within about twenty minutes, we ended up with three Miis which looked at least something like us, and Naomi especially had a great time choosing her features (though I took the liberty of giving mine a bit of a diet—wish it was that real in our world…).

So far, I think the Wii game we’ve most “got into”, would have to be the bowling in Wii Sports (which is bundled with the console—that must present a headache for the game developers, when the freebie title is “good enough”!). The bowling alley “experience” is faithfully recreated; I especially liked the other games taking place in the lanes around your own, and the fact that your Miis are seen doing the actual playing.

A real surprise is just how quickly Naomi (4) took to the bowling: the way you use the Wiimote (controller) isn’t perhaps the most obvious for a child, but she picked up the principle very quickly, and within an hour or so managed to score 179 in one game without any help. This could make for an interesting scenario if we end up looking for a Wii of our own—strict rationing and withdrawal of Wii privileges in event of stroppiness, maybe…?

Actually, that’s a big question: can (or should) we afford a Wii in the foreseeable future? Well, we’re not immune from the general belt-tightening going on around us, and even if we can muster the cash, it remains to be seen how we get on with the machine before we need to give it back!

However, we’re very grateful to our friends for giving us the chance to find out, and stay tuned here (or on my Twitter feed) for any updates on our Wii experience.

Posted by Wordmobi

When we last left the question of how I could record and upload short audio clips from my N95, you may recall that I’d hit a snag: being, that the N95’s built-in voice recorder doesn’t save to MP3 format (only “full-fat” yet poor-quality WAV, or patent-encumbered and poorly-supported AMR), and that the few MP3-capable, third-party audio-recording apps for S60 3rd Edition (and I stress the word “few”), are either expensive, phone-quality audio, or both.

I could have a moan about this (i.e. “how come there is such a gaping hole in the range of software available for S60 devices?”), but instead, I prefer to reveal that I think I have hit upon a solution to audioblogging with the N95. It’s not ideal, because it involves an extra piece of equipment, but for now it will do the job.

The extra item in question, is my iRiver H320—a circa-2005 hard disk-based digital music player, which was referred to in one review as the “Soviet iPod” (due to its bulky nature and somewhat clunky interface), though it actually does quite a few things that even the latest iPods don’t. The relevant features here from that list are:

• it has a built-in microphone, or can take an external one;
• it records to MP3 format (at various bitrates); and
• it has a USB host function (also known as USB OTG).

That last feature, in case you wondered, means that one can connect a USB mass storage device (e.g. a USB flash or hard drive) to the H320, as if the latter were a PC. As the N95 can act as a mass storage device, it means I can transfer recordings made on the H320 over to the N95, and then upload the file(s) from the N95 as normal—all without needing another computer.

At least, that’s the theory, and I’ll need to try it out sometime, but this sounds like a solution to the problem of audioblogging from the N95, at least until someone wonderful comes up with an equivalent of Audacity for S60…

This seems to be a time for following up on previous blog posts, so here’s another one “revisited”:

Back in May (when this blog was still run off Blogger), I wrote about how I’d really like to find a “hard” carrying case for my Apple wireless keyboard, which I use a lot with my Nokia N95 as an alternative to a laptop.

Basically, I haven’t been able to find one to date—I suspect my particular application for the keyboard isn’t a very common one—so at present I use the cardboard box which the keyboard came in, to protect the keyboard when it’s being carried in my gadget bag (and believe me, without protection, it would really get beaten up in there).

The box works, but I’d rather like a more elegant solution. The nearest I’ve found online is a padded “sleeve” case made especially to fit the Apple wireless keyboard, but nice though this is, it wouldn’t necessarily prevent the keys being pressed whilst the keyboard’s in the gadget bag, and I’d rather avoid this happening to save the keyboard’s batteries (and the N95 responding to unwanted key signals).

I’ve been thinking more about what I’d want in a hard case for the Apple keyboard, and here are a few of my ideas:

• The case’s dimensions should be quite close to that of the cardboard box which the keyboard came in, including the recess to accommodate the cylindrical part of the keyboard which holds the batteries and the power switch, and tilts the keys off the desktop.
• There should be some measure of foam rubber padding inside, if that can be done without increasing the case’s size much.
• I’d like to be able to use the keyboard inside the case (i.e. lift the lid, and it’s ready to go)—think of how a laptop works, and you’re on the right track.
• Related to the above point: if possible, the lid should be “angle-able” like a laptop’s screen, and I’d like to be able to place the N95 on the lid so that I can see it while controlling it with the keyboard. (In concept, this would be a bit like the phone holder on the Nokia SU-8W Bluetooth keyboard.)
• Definitely not essential, but a carry-handle might be useful, a bit like those you see on briefcases (and preferably smaller than those).

I wouldn’t really mind what material the case was made from, as long as it worked as set out above (and wasn’t liable to give me splinters or damage anything near it).

It’s at times like these that I wish I were more “handy” with DIY, software-coding and that sort of thing…

Posted by Wordmobi

This being the middle of the worst recession in most people’s lifetimes (as the media seems to take a little too much pleasure in reminding us most days), the Walker family is taking a somewhat modest summer break this year, and it starts this Saturday (raaaaay! ). It’ll be great to just go away and do/be somewhere different to the normal routine, and I’m looking forward to it a lot—not just because it’s a holiday…

…but in true Sidingsound style, it’ll give me the first proper test of whether I can ‘run’ this blog, and post multimedia to it, all from my mobile phone

I’m calling this a “road trip”, even though we’re not likely to be driving that far by US standards. We’re going to stay with some friends in south Wales for a couple of days, and then… well, you’ll just have to wait and see. I’m planning to blog the journey and the places we visit—certainly in words (this blog and Twitter), and depending on access to 3G data and/or WiFi hotspots, in photos (Flickr and/or Picasa) and videos (YouTube and (suitably fast data connection permitting) Qik).

By the time we go away, I intend to set up a separate page at the blog, with an embedded Google Map so that you can view photos by their geotagged information (i.e. they’ll show up as markers on the map), and hopefully any videos which I can upload while we’re out. I’ll also tag any Flickr photos, YouTube videos, etc. with “walkerroadtrip09″, which should help you find them.

More details nearer the weekend…

Here’s a ‘poser’ for you for the middle of the week: what do all the following items have in common?

1. Bluetooth keyboard support
2. Support for Flash in the Web browser
3. 5Mp still photos
4. Carl Zeiss lens/optics
5. Video editor, with the capability to add captions and render movies at full VGA resolution

Guessed it yet? Yup, they’re the features which (to the best of my knowledge) the iPhone 3GS doesn’t have, which my two-year-old Nokia N95 does have (and which I actually use), and which Apple are going to have to add to the next iPhone before I will even consider switching.

Now, believe it or not, I’m not trying to be deliberately provocative here. I love my gadgets as much as anyone (if not more), and as a Mac owner, I really would love to like everything about the iPhone. I’m happy to admit, the above list is gradually getting smaller than it used to be—the 3GS now supports cut/copy/paste (as the N95 always did); it now supports Bluetooth headsets (ditto); and you can now use the live video-streaming service Qik with the 3GS (thus joining my N95, which I’ve been using with Qik for the last eighteen months).

It’s hard to believe one still can’t use a Bluetooth keyboard with the iPhone without ‘jailbreaking’ the latter—ironically, it doesn’t even support Apple’s own wireless keyboard (which, to further ladle on the irony, I use perfectly well with my N95). It seems to me that an iPhone or iPod Touch paired with a BT keyboard, would make a brilliant laptop replacement, so I wonder if Apple has deliberately withheld this support so as to avoid cannibalising sales of MacBooks (which wouldn’t make much sense, given the disparity in price between the products).

To top all this off, comes the continuing speculation that Apple is readying an “iTablet”—that is, basically a larger iPod Touch with a bigger screen (and presumably a few more bells and whistles). Sounds interesting, except I’d place a bet that it’ll have an eye-watering price tag, and probably still won’t have Bluetooth keyboard support (again, not to cannibalise sales from the MacBooks).

Anyway, it looks like I’ll be sticking with my trusty N95 at least a bit longer, even if it doesn’t look as cool as a laser-engraved Apple product…

sitedark

Originally uploaded by engraveyourtech

Like it says: I just set up my Flickr account so that I can post worthy pics to Sidingsound when I find them, and this one really caught my eye. It comes from Engrave Your Tech, a US-based outfit which uses a laser engraver to etch designs onto customers’ items, such as Apple hardware (MacBooks, iPods, iPhones, etc.). I especially liked this iPhone design, and thought it would be interesting to have my beloved N95 similarly tarted up…