The Blue Iris web controller Windows software that I selected is viewable from any web browser. It detects mobile use and presents an iPxxx interface when I access it from my iPhone or iPad. I’ve added the URL to my bookmarks and to my Home screen on my iPxxx devices. Here is what I see from my iPad after I enter the proper credentials (since authentication was set up):

 I can select an individual camera from the drop down menu or just tap a camera to see a larger view.

I added a bookmark for the Blue Iris web server and also added it to my iPad and iPhone Home Screens for easy and fast access.

 

 If you have an iPxxx device and want additional apps to view your cameras, there are plenty of choices in the App Store. I wanted an additional, non browser based way to look in at home. There is a great app called Smartvue/Smartvue S9 with separate iPhone and iPad versions. And Smartvue is FREE to boot. You can set up multiple cameras and even pass authentication credentials in the configs. As I mentioned in Part 3, you will need the full image path, and all the port forwarding and dynamic DNS has to be in place for this to work. Here is a hypothetical config:

 

 

You can see that the syntax is http://username:password@yourhostname.xxx:Port/image_path. 

 Once all cameras are configured, when I open the app, a menu listing all my cameras is displayed:

 

 

I select the camera I want to view, and after a brief “Connecting to Camera”, the real time output of the camera displays:

 

 

 

 So, all the configuration of dynamic DNS, port forwarding, and authentication is really worth the effort for me. I realize that this isn’t a set of tasks easily performed by networking novices, but once you learn how to do these tasks, a whole new world of automation and control is available to you.

1. Only have 1 camera

2. Don’t need to access the camera either directly or through any software from outside your own home network

3. Don’t already have a web server running on the default port 80 (if your provider does not block this port)

If you are serious about DIY Home Security/Surveillance, you will need to configure multiple cameras on multiple ports, set up dynamic DNS (if you don’t have his setup already) and forward ports on your router. On your router, you should set up DNS reservations for your cameras, and if using a desktop software controller, a reservation for that computer and port forwarding for the port you are using for the desktop controller software web server. You can get free dynamic DNS from the folks at dyndns.com and if you have a decent router, there should be a place to enter your dyndns host name and password and the router will do the work of ensuring that if your Internet DHCP IP changes, updates are made seamlessly. D-Link actually offers a private branded dynamic DNS set up service from inside their admin interface. It should be ok to use this (last time I checked they were using the services of dyndns.com).

D-Link provides a login to a cloud based app to monitor your cameras (in addition to the dysfunctional Windows software) at mydlink.com and offers an iPhone app (free) called MyDlinkLite and a paid version for the iPad. Don’t even bother with these, they only work with port 80. I will post some info on monitoring from an iPxx device later in this series. There are other options.

So to get started, you will need to configure each camera on a unique port in the D-Link admin page.

  

 

In this case, I’ve put the Living Room camera on port 8006. Each of my 4 cameras is on a unique port.

Once you have dynamic DNS set up, use this host name instead of internal IPs. If you can’t reach the web server for your camera with the dynamic host name, you have a brain dead router hat doesn’t support loopback (like some older Netgear routers), and it’s time to replace that router. You shoud be able to reach the camera inside or outside your home in a web browser by using http://your-dyndns-hostname.xxx:port# (e.g.: http://yourhost.dyndns.info:8006 )

 

Similarly, in the Blue Iris desktop controller, cameras need to be set up with the correct port AND the path to the jpg image.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully, you will be able to find the Path info within the camera’s GUI. If not, Google or Bing..

D-Link’s DCS-932L uses /image.jpg and the DCS-942L uses image/jpeg.cgi

 

Be sure to able authentication (password protection) on all camera’s and for the desktop controller.

 

You can see why no one offers retail Home Surveillance kits – the networking set up requirements are beyond the skill set of most consumers. You can pay an installer, buy a plan from ADT or your ISP, etc. but if you are willing to do the work, you CAN roll your own.

My first decision was on what kind of technology to use. My first step was video surveillance that included motion sensing and alerts. Looking around, there wasn’t much of a choice for configurable, functioning equipment. The only affordable player that qualified was d-Link. So, I picked up a few D-Link IP cameras. Two DCS-932L’s and two DCS-942L’s. In retrospect, I could have gone with all 932L’s. These are easy to setup if you just want to view them from within your own home and if you have no advanced needs. I will detail what I learned in another posting. Setting up to fulfill home surveillance needs was not trivial. That process alone will be a separate blog post. I can also tell you that while D-Link offers a free web based viewer for web browsers and a free app for the iPhone, you won’t want to use these. D-Link includes D-Cam Viewer software for Windows on their CD’s which is a real joke as it requires you to turn of UAC.

I settled on desktop controller from Blue Iris software that, while costing $50, does everything I could ask, including scheduling triggered alerts via email or SMS, etc., and it is viewable over the Internet with authentication protection. And there is a free iPad as well as an iPhone app that works beautifully with these cameras.

After setting up my cameras, etc., here is what I can see via a web browser accessing the Blue Iris controller remotely:

Each camera can be put on a schedule for triggered alerts. If one of the motion sensors is triggered, an email and/or SMS can be sent. I am quite happy with the video surveillance system.

*Note: I left the local ADT alarms intact, and shut off the monitoring service that cost $40/month, so if someone tries to come in through doors and windows when I have armed the ADT system, an ear-splitting alarm is set off.

My solution? (Edited 8/9/2011) Stay logged into Facebook with Firefox, but NOT with IE. And strictly use Firefox for Facebook. (And note that this warning does not happen when I use Firefox to browse other sites while still logged into Facebook because Firefox is displaying mixed content by default.). Microsoft has other solutions posted, but they involve allowing mixed content to kill the prompt, or not allowing it ever (which kills the prompt) and even adding Facebook’s https site to the trusted zone. I prefer to use IE for financial sites and keep prompts and elect to only display secure content. And I am not by any means advocating dumping IE9.

I’m almost always running at least two browsers, but I just had not figured out what was causing OE to behave this way. There may be similar situations with other Facebook type sites or plugins, but with Facebook being by far the most widespread, my solution solves 99% of the problem for me. Now I know, and if you didn’t know this before, I hope this is helpful.

If you are not using an iOS device, the image above shows how the site is displayed on an iPad.

iOS Touch users can swipe to display more pages, or select an individual entry tile to display a magazine formatted page.

Touch an image to bring up a full view, or select an icon on the bottom of the page for more options. At any time the icon in the lower left hand corner allows the user to select an option to view the full desktop version. There is lots more functionality, such as once in article view, swiping will move between articles.

Why am I so excited about this? Barb Bowman’s online presence is more than just a blog. In fact I have a few blogs and websites that each represent a different segment of my online/offline life. Barbbowman.net is my photography site and barbbowmanphoto.wordpress.com is my photoblog (currently this uses the WordPress plugin). When the full Onswipe platform launches, I hope to add the photo feed to the same Onswiped site that currently only displays my blog and other content that I have online. I will become my own content aggregator/publisher. Mobile visitors will see a menu and be able to selectively view content (or view it all). Onswipe has enabled a few major publishers like Marie Claire and Slate, and if you visit those sites on an iOS device, you’ll get an idea of what I hope to do with my online presence. While I’ll never be a major publisher like these folks, I will be able to aggregate everything about Barb Bowman in one place for mobile visitors. And I think it will look awesome.

My thanks to the folks at Onswipe for enabling me to preview this publishing platform.

Young Ellie: Dad, do you think there’s people on other planets?
Ted Arroway: I don’t know, Sparks. But I guess I’d say if it is just us… seems like an awful waste of space

Contact, while science fiction, and was inspired by the research using the SETI Allen Telescope Array, was about real “possibilities”. I watch the movie every so often and wonder why we stopped moon missions and stayed home, content to orbit our own plant. And I had a small measure of satisfaction that at least we were using technology to identify other worlds that could support life. And now all of that is on hold.

When I think about the fact that all SETI needs to fund the Allen array until new funding (hopefully) kicks in around 2013 is five million dollars, I have to wonder why no one has stepped up to the plate to offer a helping hand. You know, people like Richard Branson, who has funded Virgin Galactic, and who has demonstrated an interest in the world beyond our small little rock.

So, for the next couple of years, at least, if ET decides to call us, he’ll either get no answer or a busy signal, with no opportunity to leave us voice mail.

Like many others, while I’d love a new DLNA certified Home Theater receiver DMR, the price range for these is currently $900+. And the Samsung TV is relatively new.

Enter the WD TV Live Hub. This >$200 little box does it all. Like many Home Theater enthusiasts looking for optimum solutions that provide Windows 7 Play To functionality, I’ve been frustrated and was not looking for an expensive solution. This is a very small box with gargantuan capabilities, including a 1TB hard drive to store your favorite media on.

Lots of jacks, including HDMI and SP/DIF, plus USB ports front and back (for connecting USB drives, USB Flash Keys, Wireless Adapters, Keyboards, etc.) For size comparison, in the image above on the right, the WD TV Live Hub sits atop a Samsung BD Player, which sits atop my (broken RRoD’d) Xbox 360. No HDMI or Optical SP/DIF cables are supplied, so you will need your own for the best AV experience. There is an included quick set up poster type guide supplied in the box, but no manual /user guide in the retail box, but it is available online for download in PDF format.  Most of my manuals are still in shrink wrap, so, as usual, I just jumped in without  a net.

I connected an HDMI cable from the device to my TV and an optical cable from the device to a SP/DIF port on my home theater receiver. I also plugged a wired Ethernet cable in to the device and into my D-Link DAP-1522, which provides wireless connectivity as an access point client (like a gaming adapter).  There is a list of supported USB Wireless N adapters, (as well as everything else that WD tested for connectivity including TV’s, routers, etc.) but I found that the one I tried wasn’t as good as the DAP-1522, or MoCA. More later on Network connectivity and speeds.

The WD TV Live Hub by default checks for new firmware. Downloading and installing the firmware that was available was quick and easy.

Once the device restarted with the new firmware, I was ready to try Windows 7 DLNA Play To functionality. One of the best references for Windows 7 Media Streaming and Play To can be found on MSDN.

The WD Live player showed right up in my list of devices since I previously enabled all the settings that are needed.

I selected some music as a first test:

Which started playing immediately with a display showing that the content was from Windows 7:

The next thing I tried was Windows Media Center Recorded TV. All the DRM rules apply, but unprotected content, such as this Stargate episode recorded from SyFy (SciFi) streamed beautifully and looked and sounded great.

On one of my desktops, I have a few favorite Blu Ray movies that I own ripped to MKV. Windows Media Player Streaming/Play To does not recognize the MKV extension, but if you have the appropriate bits (DivX is one option) and rename (or copy) MKV to WMV, you might just find that it works! In my case, this works from both Windows Explorer and Windows Media Player:

Avatar streamed without a glitch, with 5.1 Dolby at 1080p – you may see information quickly displayed as the stream starts, but the blue light in the center of my Sony receiver confirms 5.1 if I blink and miss the info on the screen.

Bottom line, every file type supported by WMP seems to flawlessly “just work” when I use Windows 7 Play To.  If you are looking for a reasonably priced device to enable Windows 7 Play To in your home, I highly recommend the WD TV Live Hub.  The complete list of DMR’s certified to work with Windows 7 is posted here.

While the WD TV Live Hub does have 1TB internal storage, I have a large collection of Recorded TV, plus a few ripped DVD and Blu Ray movies already residing on three Windows 7 desktops, a Vail/WHS 2011 beta machine (which supports Play To if you log into the machine and configure WMP – which you aren’t supposed to do) and 5 TB on NAS. So Windows 7 Play To is almost a necessity in my connected home. I do have a couple of Media Center Extenders which I use on both of my HD TV’s for HD via CableCard (ATI  DCT/OCUR) viewing.

I mentioned the Networking capabilities of the WD TV Live  Hub a bit earlier. Unlike devices from vendors like Sony and Samsung, etc.. who provide wireless N networking only via their own usuriously priced proprietary USN adapters, WD has done the right thing by providing support for off the shelf wireless N USB adapters. Some may work better than others. I tried a Linksys  WUSB600N V2 which the WD device immediately recognized and allowed me to browse available SSID’s, enter a WPA2-AES passphrase, and then use. I found the DAP-1522 (or my MoCA) connection to be more reliable, but this may be a function of the particular Linksys USB adapter that I happened to have laying around. Both the DAP-1522 and MoCA handled the 1080p/5.1 stream perfectly. The source computers are two floors away.  Rather than run up and down the two sets of stairs (and being a couch potato by choice), I use Windows Remote Desktop (RDP host is supported in W7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise, but not Home Premium- any version can be a RDP client) to log into these computers from the comfort of my sofa and use Play To via RDP.

In addition to the complete support for Windows 7 Play To, as a DLNA DMR, there are various options to stream media between devices. Being the aforementioned couch potato, after checking out Windows 7 Play To, my instincts were to fire up my iPad and PlugPlayer.  I was easily able to setup PlugPlayer to use the WD Device as the renderer.

And sent my ripped Avatar from the host computer to the WD TV Live Hub

Since the WD TV Live Hub has 1TB of storage, I decided to copy some of my favorite content to its built in hard drive. WD has software available on their website for managing and copying/content, but Windows Explorer handles this kind of task natively, and being a minimalist when it comes to software, that is the route I selected. The device shows in the network window and you can browse, create/rename folders, copy content, etc. easily.

I found that copying over the network was time consuming, so I let it run overnight. I had two MKV files (about 15 gigs each), about 20 gigs of music and 25 gigs of photos. Not sure how long it took, but it was completed when I checked it the next morning. I found info in the downloaded PDF User Guide about thumbnails for ripped movies. Just create a filename.jpg with the same name as filename.mkv (etc.) and it once again, just works.

There are lots of settings that are customizable, including selecting your own photos as a screensaver and setting your own background. I’ve set my own background, and am about to try to find out where that 49 degree temperature is coming from.  The menus are self explanatory and tell you when the device finds new items.

On top of all of this, Netflix, Pandora, YouTube and Facebook (and more) are available.

The WD TV Live Hub just seems to do everything, like a Swiss Army knife. Because it employs flawless and solid Windows 7 DLNA Play To functionality and has support for a massive number of file formats and codecs, this is THE device to grab as it really does fully embrace DLNA and it really “just works”.  If your interested in discussing this, and/or other DLNA devices, see The Green Button  Play To, DLNA, Etc. Forum.

Go to http://www.dnsserverlist.org/ which will automatically determine the best DNS servers based on your IP address. Pick two and carefully get the IP addresses. <- Apparently not available as of 3/28/2011.

Here are some sources for alternative DNS servers. Please note, I have not tested these.

http://theos.in/windows-xp/free-fast-public-dns-server-list/

http://www.tech-faq.com/public-dns-servers.html

Next, you will need to change your network settings on your Windows Media Center PC(s) to use these. This will override any settings on your router and/or the DNS settings provided by your ISP via DHCP:

1. Start Menu, Control Panel

2. Select "Network And Internet"

3. Select "Network and Sharing Center"

4. Select "Change adapter settings" on the left side of the screen

5. Right-click your network adapter and then select properties from the menu. (For example: "Wireless Network Connection" or "Local Area Connection")

6. On the Networking tab, double-click "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)"

7. Check "Use the following DNS server addresses"

8. Carefully type in the DNS Server IPs you want to use.

9. Click Ok and Ok again to exit.

After doing the above, open an administrative command prompt

1. Select start Menu, then Programs, then Accessories
2. Right click "command prompt" and select Run as Administrator

3. Type into the command window
ipconfig /flushdns
and then press [enter].

4. then type in:
cd \ [enter]
cd c:\Windows\ehome [enter]
start /wait mcupdate –uf [enter]

Wait a bit and Netflix and Internet TV menus should appear when you open Windows Media Center

If the above does not work, please post to http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/t/97522.aspx?
I suggest you watch this thread/subscribe to it via email in case a permanent solution is found so that you can revert your DNS to normal settings.

What does this mean? At some point in time, a new web site you want to visit or new web service you want to use may not have an assigned IPv4 address and be reachable over IPv6 only.

Is your ISP working towards insuring that  you can connect to these sites? Mine sure is. Comcast has been working on this for a long time. Of the available technologies, 6 to 4 and native dual stack seem to me to be the most robust. But the catch is that in your home, you need equipment that has implemented one of these technologies, starting with the router at the edge of your network.

I look around and I see a sorry state of affairs for the home user, where there are so few capable devices (let alone firmware upgrades for top of the line dual band wireless routers) that it would appear that the router vendors are planning on forcing consumers to buy entirely new products, most likely to be announced at CES2011.

• Apple’s Dual Band N Airport Extreme seems the farthest along in out of the box features with firmware 7.5.1,and it is a great performer, provided you are willing to forego things like MAC address cloning, and can limit yourself to 50 clients and not being able to manage via a web browser.
• D-Link’s flagship DIR-855 has no apparent support for configuring IPv6 features (although their DIR-825 B2 hardware is rumored to have some IPv6 support, but I’ve ordered and returned 4 of them, having received the initial hardware version each time). Of all the top of the line routers, IMO, the DIR-855 has the best and largest set of features and options, and I’m disappointed at the lack of IPv6 features, to say the least.
• Netgear’s flagship WNDR3700 (I believe it has recently been rebadged with a new product number)  also shows no sign of IPv6 support.
• Linksys’s  E3000 (rebadged WRT610N) also shows no signs of official IPv6 support (and it is the worst performer of the bunch).

So, yes, there is open source firmware for some router lines, but the typical home user shouldn’t have to deal with a geeky upgrade and the quirks.

My advice if you are in the market for a new router? Don’t be pulled in by those door buster holiday specials.. You are going to need to purchase a new router in the next 18 months or so unless the vendors ante up and do the right thing.

The secret sauce was finding an app called PlugPlayer and installing it on my iPhone and iPad and seeing my iPxx devices show up in the Network Window .

I was intrigued, and not expecting much success, used Windows Explorer, right clicked a music file and saw not only my TV and Sonos Players listed, but my iPhone (via PlugPlayer) as well.

Then, the next task was finding which file formats would be supported. 

All my ripped music is now mp3, as I discovered long ago that almost all devices supported this format.

Clearly, Windows 7 can now stream music to my iPxxx devices.

My individual  jpg image files also presented no problems. Playing a picture stream to my iPad (did not try the iPhone) sort of worked. A sort of intermediary screen was displayed on the iPad with a button labeled “Done” after each image displayed. I could either wait and the next image would display or push this button to see the next image. So this needs some work or tweaking.

Video, on the other hand, was tough. Neither dvr-ms or wtv are apparently supported by my iPxx devices/Plug Player and it appeared that while mp4 files work, there is no buffered instant play and you need to wait for the whole file to be loaded in memory. So, small video files are do-able, but I don’t see any transcoding taking place or any live streaming. I couldn’t get a small mp4 video file (about 1/3 Gig) to actually play without intervention. For proof of concept I took an old unprotected dvr-ms and converted in to a mp4. 

I suspect the file was transferring in the background and being cached locally on the device. I actually closed the Play To window on the computer. Five minutes it showed up on the device on a Playlist screen, where I could push the play button and watch the video clip.

My conclusions – the existing PlugPlayer app is fine for music streaming using Windows 7 Play To, but not so good for images and videos. Still, there is now proof that it is possible to Play To an iPxx device, which opens up possibilities. I may post a message on the PlugPlayer support forum and see if the developer is interested in pursuing these issue.

If you have experience with this app, suggestions for other DLNA controller iPxx that are better, or comments in general, please post on the DLNA forum on The Green Button.

1. The ability to stream from ANY of my computers (using Play To or anything else) to more than one music player/renderer simultaneously.

2. To be able to control the volume above individually or together.

3. Play Pandora Radio and other Internet sourced digital music

4. Use existing/create new playlists

5. Use iPhones, iPads and  iPxxx whatever to control and manage the device as a remote control (including graphical menus).

6. Use the system as an alarm clock with choices to wake from alarm, music, Internet music, whatever

7. Wireless connectivity in my Living Room

8. A system that was upgradeable.

9. Quality sound

10. Expandability

I’m still stunned that I found a system that does ALL of the above. (And I’m betting I discover more features – I’ve only had a few hours experience with this all, so my exploration and discovery has only just begun).

First, it’s a nice looking system. Available in Black or White, it will fit in anywhere,

Connecting two of these to my complex network was mindlessly simple. I plugged one into a switch uplinked to my router and connected the power. As for the second one, I stuck it in my living room and plugged in the power. The two units found each other over wireless 802.11n automagically, without my having to do anything. My network is secured by WPA2-AES, but Sonos uses “SonosNet 2.0” which is a secure AES peer to peer mesh wireless network, so this is a separate, but secured network. Interestingly, the speakers have two Ethernet ports for Ethernet bridging. And they also have a jack for a powered sub woofer which the devices find automatically. The docs state that you can use TWO of these in a single room for left/right stereo, but I’m wowed by just one in my living room and another upstairs that covers my loft home office and master bedroom.

I downloaded and installed the latest Sonos controller pc software from the Sonos website (rather than even opening the enclosed CD). After installing the software, I had to push a combination of buttons on each speaker to link to the software, but that was easy and fast. I saw that  firmware upgrades were detected for both speakers and they were downloaded and  applied seamlessly. I then connected my existing Pandora account through the Sonos Controller software. Done!

I fired up Windows Media Player (already set up for “Play To” with my Samsung TV which was not turned on at the time) and as you can see below, both units were available for Play To.

And of course, it worked beautifully.

I’ve got music stored on a flock of computers, including WHS1 and Vail. So how can I stream to my new Sonos speakers without moving from the sofa or booting up a laptop? Well, Sonos has apps for the iPad/ and for the iPhone/iTouch.  Just below is a screen capture from my iPhone. I can browse all my media servers and drill down to Artist, Album, etc. etc. and add to queues, play now, (etc. again). And I can stream my Pandora stations, too!

The iPad Sonos controller software, with more screen real estate, is a real knock out, as shown below.

And yes, there is a Line-In on the speakers themselves to connect even more devices. Like a Zune or whatever. Both the desktop software and the iPad software allow me to set alarms and sleep timers (!)

I will be setting up a series of alarms that I can turn on or off. This is so slick.

The sound is great. Sonos supports a wide variety of music formats (but not WMA lossless or Apple AAC enhanced
or Fairplay). Most of my content is mp3, so I’m all set.

This is the most advanced, converged system I’ve seen, and I’m more than just a little impressed. Kudos to Sonos for having the vision that supports my connected home.

Back up Outlook files and so leaving RIM, here I go Bye Bye Blackberry Where a better phone waits for me Syncs so fine with MobileMe Bye Bye Blackberry RIM gave no love to Outlook 2010, see And to their beta they did not invite me The iPhone 4 was slick and bright The Apple staff was really nice Bye Bye Blackberry Signal is strong on AT&T I’d tested my iPad with 3G Bye Bye Blackberry No one at RIM would engage me, Or give out info that would help me, (Oh oh oh oh) Made my choice, quit that fight, iPhone’s working great tonight, Blackberry, BYE BYE

]]> http://digitalmediaphile.com/index.php/2010/08/01/bye-bye-blackberry/feed/ 0 http://digitalmediaphile.com/index.php/2010/07/11/blackberry-desktop-office-2010-august-support-but-not-x64/ http://digitalmediaphile.com/index.php/2010/07/11/blackberry-desktop-office-2010-august-support-but-not-x64/#comments Sun, 11 Jul 2010 11:18:57 +0000 Barb http://digitalmediaphile.com/index.php/2010/07/11/blackberry-desktop-office-2010-august-support-but-not-x64/ I can’t imagine why Microsoft didn’t work harder to get RIM to offer timely support for Office 2010. (And I hate the iPhone+Apple+ATT monopoly that locks me out of getting an iPhone because AT&T refuses to build out coverage in Northern New England).

After months of silence, RIM has announced 32 bit only support “targeted for” August. And no 64 bit support until 2011.  Targeted is a weasel word. My perception is that RIM has crappy programmers and/or figures most people don’t care about either Office 2010 and/or sync.

They’ve posted the following (linked above):

Overview

Currently, BlackBerry Desktop Manager 5.0.1 does not support Microsoft Outlook 2010 64-bit version for mailbox connectivity and synchronization of organizer data such as Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Memos. The next release of the BlackBerry Desktop Manager provides support for Microsoft Outlook 2010 32-bit version only. This release is targeted for August 2010. Support for Microsoft Outlook 2010 64-bit version will be available in 2011.

But they want to make this 802.11b/g and not the faster 802.11n (which is backwards compatible with b/g.

As any photographer knows, RAW files are huge, and even the JPEGs at Fine and Super-Fine resolutions are pretty big.

Eye-FI has done it right and offers SDHC cards that utilize 802.11n.

Why in the world would Toshiba (or anyone else for that matter) want to slow people down? This may be a price based decision. I sure have no interest.

Eye-Fi on its own is cool enough. Send digital photos from your camera to your desktop via 802.11n (2.4 GHz only)  for editing, to various online photo sharing sites, Facebook, and so on. It sure beats connecting cables or removing cards from a camera.

I thought that the advertised free iPhone app for Eye-Fi (available in the App Store of course) might be useful on my iPad since its function is to send photos from the iPhone via 3G to your desktop or a supported online photo sharing site (Facebook, Flickr, MobileMe, Picasa, Smugmug). And I was right.

Surprisingly, there was virtually no setup to speak up. You authenticate by entering the credentials for your Eye Fi account and the little app “just works”. Once I logged in, the computer showed an additional tab on the left labelled iPhone (which I promptly changed to iPad). A settings window popped right up (and it can be accessed at any time) that let me specify a folder hierarchy and type and some other options.

Back on the iPad, since there is no camera and because I don’t yet have my hands on the camera connector for iPad, I was able to upload photos stored on the device. I used this feature to take the screen captures I made of the Eye Fi functionality on the iPad and send them to my desktop for editing and inclusion in this post.

Well, I can’t take a photo with the iPad as I said, but I sure can choose an existing photo and upload it. I just selected my Saved Pictures folder on the iPad and selected three images. The two above and one showing all the saved screen shots (appears below as iPhone005.JPG inside the Windows Explorer image).

I could tell the image uploads were completed via both a tool tip in the system and the Eye-Fi center window below.

Here’s the Windows Explorer view.

Yup, this is way cool. I really want to get my hands on that iPad Camera Connector. I’m relishing the thought of all my pictures being uploaded and ready for editing on the home computer when I walk in the front door at the end of a day of photo shooting.

The current iPad/iPod app really made me sit up and take notice. It’s really  slick. And it works as advertised. I had created a favorites list of channels that I record from all the time (movies mostly) and can easily access my favorites lineup and schedule recordings on either of my two Comcast DVRs, make changes, and everything syncs up quickly with the schedule on the physical boxes. Way to go, Comcast. (Microsoft, if only you could think a little more outside the box and offer this kind of functionality for Windows Media Center. You once had MSN Remote Record and blew your chance at evolving from that very early start. Yes, there are third party apps, like Remote Potato, but it doesn’t come close to the elegance of the Comcast app. And with what Brian Roberts demo’d, I’d say that Comcast has won the slingfest…)

The Comcast App does more than Video, it does email, voicemail, and on the iPad, this is quite usable for me.  First, I went to http://www.fancast.com to activate the myDVR application. Since I’ve used the Fancast site before, I’d already specified my channel lineup.

To get to the schedule, just tap The Guide.

  The Guide is very readable on the iPad, and of course you can rotate the iPad for a landscape view. You can select several predefined views within the app, but I find it best for me to use the Favorites list that I created on the iPad.

Anything previously scheduled will show as a red dot. And you can select a scheduled show to make changes from this screen.

I’ve scrolled on to the next day and decided to record Mamma Mia.  I can schedule, set reminders and view other show times.

If I want to change to my other DVR, I just tap Record On DVR and can make the change. And I can record on both if I so desire.

Once I’ve decided to record, I get a message indicating that the request has been sent to the DVR.

As promised, when I view the guide on the iPad, within a few minutes, I can see that it is a confirmed recording.

If I select the show, I can make changes.

And if it is a show/movie/series (yes I can setup series recordings too) that I want to tell someone else about, Comcast provides a link that opens an email message, pre-populated, with the summary above for you to address, maybe add a few comments, and send.

All in all, this is really slick. Far better than scheduling on the actual DVR (in my opinion).

I don’t know when it will be available in various Comcast markets, but it is slowly getting rolled out.

I can’t edit or create new files, and I’m hoping that, down the road, someone will figure out a way to create and edit MS Office apps on the iPad. I don’t think it likely that MS would create Microsoft Office for the iPad, but then you never know.

Here’s how remote access to WHS looks on my iPad:

I’ve been taking a 10 inch beefed up netbook around with me, but I think the iPad is better suited for casual “always connected” activities where I’m not looking/working on spreadsheets/Word docs/PowerPoint presentations et al. And the iPad is a great entertainment device.  I have to say that iTunes is a whole less finicky about editing meta data and album art than Windows Media Player on Windows 7.

Zune won’t let me copy or sync my DRM’d recorded TV shows and the Digital Copies supplied with some of my Blu Ray disks aren’t particularly Windows friendly. 

Given the number of other “Window’s people” giving this device the thumbs up, it’s pretty clear I’m not alone. I’ll look at the Windows “slate” supposedly coming this year, but for now, the iPad is my device of choice for running around town and casual night table usage.

I’m definitely on the lookout for an RDP application to load on my new toy. If I can manage my server and a few other things from this “thin client”, it will be the frosting on the cake.

I also can’t wait to try out some of the games on my iPad.  And read some e-books and news.

So, I found myself assessing the tools I need for job hunting (it’s been a while since I was at Comcast 12+ years). My Xerox Personal Copier (circa 1994) needed a drum/cartridge (approx $100) and my 8 year old fax machine (a $129 Brother) was sending stuff that was unreadable. True, I don’t use a fax much anymore, but there are a few  non tech entities that still don’t understand email and scans. I had a scanner that went in the dumpster about 10 years ago that I never replaced. It lasted just long enough to digitize my heirloom family pictures and my own film prints and negatives.

Staples had this HP 8500 Pro 909g printer/fax/scanner/color copier which, with a printer trade in rebate, was $249.98. And there is a $50 mail in rebate on top of that. OK, $200 to replace my all dead and dying Jurassic period home office communications/imaging devices seemed like a good deal. C|Net liked this printer, too.

I had an 8 year old printer to trade, and a friend to carry equipment  up and down stairs for me. I played with the printer at Staples for quite a while and liked what I saw.

Hardware setup was quick and easy. I have no complaints there. Then I installed the printer driver suite.

Imagine my displeasure when, at the end of the install, I launched IE and I noticed the Yahoo toolbar had been silently installed without my permission. And IE immediately crashed. Way to go, HP. I re-opened IE and disabled the Yahoo toolbar add-in, closed the browser and was greeted with a second “Internet Explorer has stopped working” intercept.  Opened IE and found some additional HP Browser helper objects (BHO’s) in Manage Add-ons and disabled them. Closed the browser. Uninstalled the Yahoo toolbar. Back to normal.

I then decided to contact HP Support to complain about foisting this crap on unsuspecting consumers. The first email response was from a delta semi moron who told me to contact Microsoft for Internet Explorer support in uninstalling the Yahoo toolbar. I emailed my reply and heard back from a different support rep. Apparently HP has so many complaints about the crapware they install that they have a permanent FAQ that includes the language “ ..special offers at HP Deals “. The installer also PINS two icons to the Windows 7 Start menu. 

OK, I’ve vented. I feel better now.

I actually like the device alot. Email on the go for sure keeps me uber connected, but I’ve only enabled a few of my email addresses for this.  I resisted getting a smart phone for a long time, but now I don’t know how I managed without one. 

One thing that I didn’t like was the default theme pack offered by Verizon. But there certainly is a large variety of user designed theme-ware to be found online. The iPhone like bBerry theme caught my eye, mostly because of the Blue Marble shot of Earth and the clean, Zen iPhone iconography.  I customized it even further by adding a wallpaper (just like the one that comes with the theme itself) with my name on it (Photoshop, how do I count the ways).  I like the “Today” default view.

Why did we translate it into Klingon?

Our routine monitoring of sub-space transmissions alerted Sophos that the loss of the Klingon battlecruiser Klothos was not due to Romulan incursion into the Khitomer system, but a result of trying to remove VBS/PeachyPDF-A from the battle computer using M’swoN’kar after Commander Kor opened an attachment from the system S’cam-419.

Immediately our Product Marketing away team embarked on a mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and flog them Network Access Control solutions. Sadly they chose Qo’noS as their first destination and when their severed heads were beamed back to Sophos, the engineering team created this software, not in a spontaneous display of gratitude to the Klingon race (as the Register would have you believe) but to honour their memory.

Test your existing anti-virus protection

• Scans without the need to uninstall or disable your existing anti-virus.
• Runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista.
  This software has compatibility issues with the version of msxml4.dll used by cloaking devices on Romulan-modded D7-class battle cruisers. Installing this software on such vessels is punishable by ordeal of Ginst’a'Ed.
• Uses a single scan to detect viruses, spyware and adware – including zero-day threats.
• Updates automatically for 30 Galactic standard days.

Beam me up…

See this NYT article for details.

I’m especially craving the whole wall interactive piece at the end of this video.

There is a Big Brother is watching you aspect to all of this though…

I agree with the sentiment expressed 100%.

The image below is quickly cropped and converted in Capture NX 2. No other adjustments made. (Click the image for larger view).

Lighthouses are next…

Scan from a German magazine being released tomorrow.

The DSM-210 displays an RSS feed snippet

As much as I liked the Momento frame that I’ve had for a couple of years, it had a few shortcomings. It didn’t support WPA2 (only WPA) and the remote was a little flaky requiring multiple keypresses at times to enter a character at times.  And it did not see my mixed g/n networks (and couldn’t connect to them even if I entered the SSID and credentials manually). There haven’t been any firmware updates, and the Momento frame really isn’t readily available. It is important to note that the Momento I had here was pre-production, from the floor of CES.

The DSM-210, however, implements WPA2, sees all available networks, and the mini remote is extremely responsive. The frame goes into standby mode at night when I turn off the lights in my living room and starts up again in the morning when I enter the room. D-Link tells me that the frame will be available soon online and in the usual big box stores.

The HP MediaSmart Connect x280n ships with a handheld remote that is worthy of its own blog review. Most of the remote controls that I’ve seen shipping with Media Center Computer, Media Center Extenders, etc. are lacking in one or more key features. For one thing, if it doesn’t have some kind of back lighting, it isn’t usable for me in a home theater environment. A couple of the remotes I’ve received along the way from Microsoft and others DO have back lighting, so fortunately, since these things are interchangeable, it hasn’t been a problem for me. My other big gripe is that I have other components with remotes (you know, TV’s, home theater receivers, X10 lighting, and other components like Xboxen, DVD player’s, et all) and I hate remote clutter. For years I’ve used Philips Prontos. And I’ve programmed them with macros that are activity based. Perfect for my needs.

HP has definitely raised the bar when it comes to supplying a premium hand held remote. The images here are NOT to scale and are meant to show the layout and shape as well as features. Both the D-Link (left) and the Linksys (right) are pretty basic remotes. And they do what they are supposed to do. The D-Link DSM-750 has a secondary proprietary MediaLounge interface and their remote works seamlessly with it as well as the Media Center interface.

So what do I like and what do I think sets this remote apart? First, there is a very tactile cursor pad. Then there is the blue back lighting so I don’t have to fumble in the dark. The remote includes universal remote functions and allows you to add 4 additional components (TV, set top box, DVD, Aux, etc.). I haven’t set anything up yet, but for most people this will be more than enough to banish other remotes. There is no macro capability, so my Pronto will stay on the coffee table. And if someone wants to supply a Pronto ccf/pcf file and upload it to remotecentral.com.. I might go the other way and include a device on my Pronto. (Yeah, I can use “learning” and do it all myself). Another really big plus is the “sleep” button. (Think “Green”).

A final BIG plus that I want to highlight today is that the “Green Button” provides one touch access to turn the x280n on and fire up the Media Center Extender interface, and get you connected without going through the MediaSmart menu. Otherwise, you press the power button to reach the main menu and can select the MCX or HP interface from there.

My only complaint so far is that I prefer the play button to be centered, larger and standout more like on the D-Link remote and some of the MS reference designs.

Nice looking hardware, piano black finish (production units will have a neat Zen imprint) with a solid heft/feel. Connections for component and HDMI (720p and 1080i supported on both). An HDMI cable is included (nice touch). Audio jacks include RCA stereo (analog) and Optical Digital (SPDIF). No Coax digital, but that suits me just fine. I ranted some about the lack of Optical output on the ”competing” (and I use that term loosely) Linksys DMA-2100.

802.11a/b/g/n (Draft 2.0n) wireless (and 10/100 Ethernet) connect this device to your home network. The device sports USB ports front and rear and includes a HP Pocket Media Drive Bay (the 21st century version of sneaker net storage used to move your digital “stuff” between computers and devices).

If you are looking at size and aesthetics, this image shows the sizes of the x280n, the Linksys DMA-2200 (the 2100 is even smaller and as I blogged, chintzy in feel and cheap looking), the D-Link theater component size DSM-750, and an Xbox 360. For me, it is a draw between the component sized D-Link which, in the real world would fit nicely on the rack that holds my home theater receiver and the HP x280n which would fit nicely and discreetly on top of or under the TV. Top to bottom: HP MediaSmart x280n, Linksys DMA-2200, D-Link DSM-750, Xbox 360.

HP includes a really nice handheld remote. It’s certainly the best of the remotes offered with any of the extenders I’ve seen. It’s backlit (which for me is a must in a darkened room). Setting up the x280n was menu driven and simple. It found several of my 2.4GHz  “N” networks (I’m not certain it is seeing 5GHz N yet, more to come). I associated it, entered the WPA2-PSK passphrase and it was off and running. The first thing it did was check for new firmware. Finding a newer version, it downloaded and applied the newer firmware. After a reboot, it was back up and ready for action.

I elected to set it up as a Media Center Extender first and verify that my OCUR/DCT high def streaming was good to go. No problem there. Since I can do MCX setups in my sleep, and at the speed of light, I was able to quickly get through setup and watch Live and Recorded HD TV.

Exploring the HP MediaSmart interface:

I had a short amount of time to explore HP’s MediaSmart proprietary interface for Media Sharing. I used Windows Media Sharing and UPnP streaming from a server. I have yet to setup HP’s own MediaSmart gateway software, but I’ll get to that. HP has developed a slick and intuitive interface which can be used with Windows XP, Vista, and most likely will be future proof, at least for a while. I like the HP interface and functionality slightly more than D-Link’s MediaLounge interface. Linksys has no such secondary interface. I was easily able to start playing some music and access my photos and play a slide show. This works almost exactly the same way it does on the Media Center Extender interface. All in all, in my first look, a nice, user friendly, solid piece of hardware with great functionality.

I’ll be updating this post as time permits as I continue to explore and experiment.

The D-Link frame, part of the Medialounge product family does all the above and more.

I’m pretty impressed. Besides handling the wireless streaming (which you’d expect from a wireless picture frame), the DSM-210 is very network savvy. Autosensing my DNS-323 NAS (which sports a UPnPAV media server) the network settings displayed this server as a media source. When I fired up a computer that previously was not used for media sharing, Window Vista detected the DSM-210 and asked if I wanted to set up Windows Media Sharing. Pretty slick.

The frame has 1GB internal storage and comes pre-loaded with some sample pictures. D-Link has a widget that works with Yahoo Widgets and lets you manage the content in the built in memory. Delete the samples and drop your own images onto the widget and they are quickly uploaded. In fact, the widget lets you manage multiple frames.

I’ve only just begun to explore the Online Content features. You can view photo streams from all the usual places (or set up your own from your hard drive or other RSS capable source). Plus there are channels for just about every interest. And yeah, I’ve got my local weather forecast set up.

I can email images to myself (even from a camera phone) and invite friends to email images to me as well at a special address (jpg format). This works pretty much the same as the analogous feature on the Momento frame.

If you want to keep your DSM-210 frame in your bedroom, you don’t need to turn it off at night. The frame autosenses motion or light and somehow activates itself when you turn on a light or walk into a room. I’m still investigating this feature to see just how it works.

The D-Link logo and some blue LEDs fire up for a bit when you first power on the frame but turn off automatically.

Here’s a quick and dirty picture of the frame right after I started a stream from the DNS-323 NAS box.

I like this hardware a lot. More to come as I dive deeper into the features.

“It’s way too good for the likes of me! What a beast. I’m used to Hondas not Lagondas. I really love this computer.. I`ve NEVER owned anything this nice and I`ve only begun to discover its potential.. ”

The correct answers are:

1. http://digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com/2008/01/01/is-this-your-lucky-day/ (or for those of you that entered from my older blog where the contest was mirrored, this URL was also correct.
2. Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme Processor X9000 (2.80GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
3. TX1000 (or TX1001xx, or several variants of that number for the notebook used in that series of reviews)
4. Acer Ferrari 4000
5. Nikon D300

After removing/deleting entries above that didn’t meet the qualifications, I sorted the correct entries oldest (first in) to oldest and exported to Excel. Then I visited www.random.org and put everyone’s fate in their hands. Click the image below for a full-size screen shot.

Contest Stats: 

The bad news:

403 entrants did not follow directions and were eliminated from the contest. Issues with these entries included not using the correct subject line, “I want a HDX Dragon” or “I want an HDX Dragon” (a vs an being a grammar issue). And some folks that didn’t do the treasure hunt but simply sent their contact info or told me a sob story. And a few that included images and graphics where I specifically stated “no images or stationery”. Additionally, I was very clear, one entry per email address. You could enter from multiple email addresses, but not from the same one more than once. Sorry if you were in this category of disqualified entries.

The good news:

937 correct entries

Other contests are still running. Click here for a list!.

 HP HDX Dragon – $4,500+ retail value (see full specs below)

HDX System Specs

Operating system
Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
 
Processor
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme Processor X9000 (2.80GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
 
Display
20.1″ diagonal WUXGA High-Definition HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen (1920×1200)-”True HD” 1080p res
 
Memory
4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
 
Graphics Card
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
 
Personalization
HP Imprint Finish (Dragon) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone
 
Networking
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth(TM)
 
Hard Drive
500GB 5400RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (250GB x 2)
 
Primary CD/DVD Drive
Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
 
TV & Entertainment Experience
Integrated HP HDTV Hybrid TV Tuner and 4 Altec Lansing speakers +the HP Triple Bass Reflex subwoofer
 
Primary Battery
9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Weight

15.3+ lbs
 
Software

Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition

Corel PaintShop Pro X2 – $73.99 retail value (eval copy)

Corel Painter Essentials – $79.99 retail value (eval copy)

Corel Ulead Video Studio Plus  11.5- $79.95 retail value (eval copy)

 Games

Viva Piñata – $37.99 retail value (eval copy)

Microsoft Flight Sim – $44.99 retail value (eval copy)

Microsoft Flight Sim Expansion Pack – $34.99 retail value (eval copy)

Gears of War – $49.99 retail value (eval copy)

Movies

Pirates of the Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl – Blu Ray – $22.95 retail value (eval copy)  

Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest- Blu Ray – $22.95 retail value (eval copy)

Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End – Blue Ray – $22.95 retail value (eval copy)

Today, a new tool, “Pro Photo Tools Version 1“, for pro photographers was released.

And there is no support for x64. Thanks, Microsoft! I salute you, again, for your support (and I don’t mean the 21 gun type of salute..)

Interestingly, I had thought that the eSATA 5400 rpm drives would be the lowest scoring components, but that 5.3 score was not the bottom. Memory calcs per second were at the bottom at 5.1.

However, numbers aside, MY EXPERIENCE is how I rate a computer. And this is one fast dragon. As of right now, it’s the fast box in the house!

Once again, here’s the list of participating sites and the dates when the contest will start and winners selected:

Site	Contest Starts	Winner Announced On
AbsoluteVista.com	2-May	9-May
Ars Technica	3-May	10-May
OSNN.net	4-May	11-May
JKontherun.com	5-May	12-May
Barbs Connected World	6-May	13-May
BostonPocketPC.com	7-May	14-May
The-Gadgeteer.com	8-May	15-May
TheDigitalLifesetyle.com	9-May	16-May
DigitalHomeThoughts.com	10-May	17-May
Windows-now.com	11-May	18-May
WindowsConnected.com	12-May	19-May
Geekstogo.com	13-May	20-May
Bink.nu	14-May	21-May
MediabLab.com	15-May	22-May
Last100.com	16-May	23-May
Digital Inspiration	17-May	24-May
Notebooks.com	18-May	25-May
SlashdotReview.com	19-May	26-May
Neowin.net	20-May	27-May
Geek.com	21-May	28-May
Lockergnome.com	22-May	29-May
Planet x64.com	23-May	30-May
TheGreenButton.com	24-May	31-May
Istartedsomething.com	25-May	1-June
BleepingComputer.com	26-May	2-June
HardwareGeeks.com	27-May	3-June
GeekNewsCentral.com	28-May	4-June
Geekzone.co.nz	29-May	5-June
TheTabletPC.net	30-May	6-June
GearLive.com	31-May	7-June
GottaBeMobile.com	1-June	8-June

I saw the beginning of the change from the basic boxy boring desktop pc with a HP Media Center 873n Desktop PC that I previewed a few months before its public release (for the launch of the first version of Windows Media Center Edition, October 29, 2002). At the time I said that it still wasn’t “sexy enough” for the living room, or any room other than the home office or the den. And it sure wasn’t something I could easily put in the car and drag around New England to show off to friends.

Fast forward to May 2008. HP, you’ve come a long way. This is my kind of desktop replacement. Sleek styling, not a dust catcher, and a computer I’d love to have downstairs and to take with me on long weekends around New England. This is computing done right (at least for me). I can see the Dragon as a complete Entertainment/Home Theater/Productivity all-in-one system for small apartments, dorm rooms, campers, and guest bedrooms/dens, and the kitchen counter. It’s a svelte and sexy computer. (The only unsexy thing, which you can hide, is the power brick which is massive and very reminiscent of the Xbox 360 power brick.)

The HDX Dragon makes a stylish addition to my kitchen counter. A mini remote control is supplied that fits into a recessed storage area to the left of the keyboard.

I was gratified to see that, with the HDX Dragon, HP has made the jump to 64 bit computing (I’m an x 64 evangelist since way back). My review/contest giveaway unit came with Vista x64 Ultimate but Vista x64 Home Premium IS an option. My advice, go for Ultimate on this one. This is a high end, high class machine. If you decide to order this computer, get Vista SP1 pre-installed. (I’ve installed the SP1 update myself).

The HDX Dragon definitely has bells and whistles and icing on top of that. HP’s website lists all kinds of options which appear at the bottom of this post. (I’ve highlighted in red at the end of this the installed options on my review unit/contest giveaway unit that some lucky reader will receive). In addition, HP and BuzzCorps have provided more software and Blu-Ray HD movies that I will ship to the winner.

Getting up and running  after connecting the power supply is a good experience. Booting up the HDX Dragon for the first time involves agreeing to licensing, selecting a user name and password, and the typical Vista “optimizing system performance” routines. This is followed by a short and slick video from HP.

Once at the desktop, the Fingerprint Reader application asks you if you want to register your fingerprints. It’s quick and easy. The placement of the fingerprint reader hardware is above the keyboard in the center area, and not on the side of the display as I expected. In any case, I find fingerprint readers a great convenience factor but not necessarily a security control.

The screen and video display is absolutely stunning and viewable from even what appears to be a 170 degree angle. I’d expect no less from a high end machine. The video is powered by a 512MB NVidia 8800. 1920 x 1200 pixels is awesome. And I can’t wait to view some Blu-Ray HD DVD’s at 1080p.

Windows Media Center easily found and setup the internal HDTV Hybrid Tuner. I’m not in a good OTA reception area, and only one channel (the local ABC affiliate) has enough strength for a decent signal, but the picture quality from that one channel is pretty impressive on this display. I’ll try hooking up one of my external USB tuners (connected to a Comcast set top box) and I’m sure it will be a terrific experience. By the way, the HDX Dragon boasts both VGA and HDMI connectors. If you have a big screen TV and are having a block party, go ahead and hook up, there’s plenty of video power to drive an external display.

Four USB ports provide enough connectivity for all my peripherals (and all at the same time!). There’s even a Firewire port so importing video from my Canon HV20 is quick and easy. Trackpad/mouse controls are very similar to the TX1000/2000 series notebooks. Very tactile and extremely easy and accurate. On a notebook this size, there’s room for more than the standard notebook type keyboard. I was glad to see a number pad, separate cursor keys, etc. It’s really like a full desktop experience.

I’m depressed that I have to give this computer away. Did I say it was fast? Did I mention the stunning 1080p display?  I’m very envious of the 31 folks who will end up with one of these incredible machines.

If you don’t win one of the contests, you can still order an HDX Dragon and configure it just the way you want. Below are the choices, and I’ve called out the options on the unit I’ll be giving away.

Yes, this is a large cash value item. HP and BuzzCorps will be providing tax relief and forms to the winners for all sites. Yes, this contest is open to anyone in the galaxy, so even if you’re on the International Space Station, we’ll find a way to ship this to you.

In answer to the question, “How big IS the Dragon?”, thanks to notebooks.com (also one of the 31 sites), here’s a photo. 

Be sure to visit all the sites listed below on the day each contest starts to expand your chances to win the HDX Dragon!

This one isn’t meant for economy class on airplanes, but it sure is one to use at home, take to grandma’s on the other side of town, bring to parties to amaze your friends.

Check out the demo here (will open a new window, please wait for the flash demo to load).

HDX System Specs

Operating system
Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
 
Processor
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme Processor X9000 (2.80GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
 
Display
20.1″ diagonal WUXGA High-Definition HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen (1920×1200)-”True HD” 1080p res
 
Memory
4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
 
Graphics Card
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
 
Personalization
HP Imprint Finish (Dragon) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone
 
Networking
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth(TM)
 
Hard Drive
500GB 5400RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (250GB x 2)
 
Primary CD/DVD Drive
Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
 
TV & Entertainment Experience
Integrated HP HDTV Hybrid TV Tuner and 4 Altec Lansing speakers +the HP Triple Bass Reflex subwoofer
 
Primary Battery
9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Weight

15.3+ lbs
 
Software

Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition

Corel PaintShop Pro X2 – $73.99 retail value (eval copy)

Corel Painter Essentials – $79.99 retail value (eval copy)

Corel Ulead Video Studio Plus  11.5- $79.95 retail value (eval copy)

 Games

Viva Piñata – $37.99 retail value (eval copy)

Microsoft Flight Sim – $44.99 retail value (eval copy)

Microsoft Flight Sim Expansion Pack – $34.99 retail value (eval copy)

Gears of War – $49.99 retail value (eval copy)

Movies

Pirates of the Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl – Blu Ray – $22.95 retail value (eval copy)  

Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest- Blu Ray – $22.95 retail value (eval copy)

Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End – Blue Ray – $22.95 retail value (eval copy)

Thirty-one sites starting in early May will post individual contests you can enter. Be sure to visit each one to see news of this contest as it develops. You’ll have a week to enter each contest before the winner is selected. Each contest will be different. You can enter one or all.

Here’s the list of participating sites and the dates when the contest will start and winners selected:

Wrong.

If you’re in the market for an unbelievable entertainment machine, total retail value at around $4500, you will have 31 chances to win a dream machine that also includes the highest end options, software, movies to play in the included Blu-Ray HD DVD.

Be prepared to be blown away. I’ve used laptops nearly all my computing life, starting with the Tandy FD1400 that used two 720 floppies.

Here’s a hint. 20.1 inch wide screen 1080p display. There’s only one notebook in the world this powerful. It looks something like:

I’ll have a review of this awesome machine as well in a week or so, as will 30 other sites, so you’ll know some of the folks are truth tellers from way back.

This is for real folks.

Details early next week.

Almost exactly one year after receiving the TX1000 for review, HP contacted me and asked if I was interested in looking at the HP Pavilion TX2000 Entertainment PC. Of course I said yes. And I won’t keep anyone in suspense. I REALLY like this notebook. Below are my first and early impressions in detail.

The TX1000 series was not a true Tablet PC and as I wrote a year ago, handwriting recognition was pretty iffy and slow. The TX2000 series is definitely a “real” tablet, with a good active digitizer. It even understands my hen scratches (a tough thing to do since not only has my handwriting degenerated over the years, but because I type 99% of the time, when I do use a pen or pencil, ten minutes after I’ve written something I might not be able to read it myself!)

HP has listened carefully to end users. (And I don’t know of any other computer manufacturer that has gone to this much trouble to solicit feedback, yet alone incorporate it, in a consumer notebook product.) Circuit City is describing the TX2000 as an HP Pavilion TX2000 12.1″ Touchscreen Entertainment Laptop. I’m guessing that the word “touchscreen” has less of a “business only” connotation than “tablet”, but it is a true tablet pc.

The nitty gritty: The machine I received was one at the top of the line. According to the website (as of April 11, 2008), models start at $899.99 for a base configuration and with HP’s recommended Config, currently cost $1168.99.

The hardware I received:

Turion 64 X2 TL66 (2.3 GHz 512+512 L2 Cache)

4 GB DDR2 System Memory

Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone

Wireless a/b/g/n (draft) + Bluetooth

250 GB SATA 5400 RPM hard drive

LightScribe 8x DVD+/-RW Double Layer

Wireless Remote Control (for Windows Media Center and Quick Play)

6 cell & 8 cell Lithium-Ion batteries

Tablet Pen Digitizer and Cord

12.1” (1280 x800) WXGA Nvidia Go6150 powered graphics (shared memory)

2 sets earbuds

I’m forever converted to x64 computing, so a machine with 4 Gigs of RAM, Vista Ultimate x64 and a dual core AMD Turion loads an impressive deck. (Actually the top processor offered in this series, the AMD Turion(TM) 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology Gold Edition TL-68 (2.4 GHz, 512KB+512KB L2 Cache) is one of the faster of its kind.)

Setting up and firing up the TX2000 for the first time was a breeze. HP includes their standard poster for folks that can’t figure out how to insert the battery and assemble the two pieces of the power cord. After powering it up for the first time, the typical OEM Windows Vista setup screens appeared including license acknowledgement and after Windows setup completed, HP’s own registration application. It’s all pretty slick as you can see from the shots below. A short video was next and a few screens asking me if I needed an Internet provider. Since I’m a very happy Comcast broadband user, I was all set.

HP’s default wallpaper is shown below. This same design is imprinted (black on a striking piano black finish) on the top pf the notebook.

I “pointed” the a/b/g/n wireless at one of my 802.11n (draft 2.0) networks and was off and running, actually speeding. Windows Vista downloaded a ton of updates while I looked around and worked on personalizing my drive configuration. The 250GB hard drive was configured as a single volume (Drive C) and one of the first things I did was change the hidden recovery partition drive letter to F and then shrink the C drive, create a D drive and format as NTFS. I like to keep my data (including images, videos and music) on a non system drive. Old habits die hard!

Multimedia Powerhouse

There’s no question that the TX2000 is an Entertainment Notebook PC (and is deserving of that label). The stereo speakers (Altec Lansing) are quite good for a laptop. I’ve certainly seen my share of crappy, tinny laptop speakers driven by cheap chips over the years). There are TWO earphone/earbud out ports. Couple this with tablet functionality and turning the TX2000 into tablet mode, watching a DVD on an airplane with a travel companion is a great experience. Both of you can enjoy the DVD while everyone around you can watch the movie offered by the airline that you’ve already seen twice. I carry some great Shure sound isolating high performance earbuds which provide an incredible experience, but entry level inexpensive earbuds are available as options from HP with the TX2000. It’s not a bad idea to carry a set of these if you want to share with someone not carrying their own earbud gear. HP includes Quick Play button functionality (which launches Vista) to give you one button access to your music and more.

Windows Vista Media Center is a powerhouse on its own and is included in every version of Vista Ultimate or Home Premium. For $100, you can order an optional HP USB Digital/Analog Tuner w/Remote for a premium Live and Recorded TV experience. On top of that, HP has added enough additional entertainment features that I was tempted to look for the kitchen sink

Kitchen sink aside, HP includes a link to SlingMedia’s web site for a 15% discount on a Slingbox (and the Sling Media player is pre-installed). StarZ Vongo is also pre-installed. The basic version of muvee autoProducer is pre-installed (along with the option of activating a 21 day free trial of the fully featured version). Cyberlink full version software is also pre-installed: Power Director 6 (for the Steven Spielberg in you), Power2Go v5 (media burner), Label Print and YouCam (webcam effects). HP Photosmart Essentials is also included.

Electronic Arts Trial Version of Sims Life Stories is also pre-installed. It’s not really my “thing” but HP certainly includes a rounded selection of entertainment vehicles.

HP included a lot of other software (loaded to the gills, actually), including a 60 day trial version of Microsoft Office 2007 Student and Teacher (which I am replacing with a full Office 2007 Ultimate and Expression Web). The S&T version may be just right for the average user, but I’m accustomed to the Ultimate version of Office 2007 and I do author PowerPoint decks. Also preinstalled was a 60 day trial of Norton Internet Security. Norton is one of my least favorite apps, and after 10 minutes, I uninstalled it (and substituted Eset’s NOD32 which I like a lot as it is lightweight but strong). I do understand the need to include a working AV product out of the box.

Much of the included software has easy access shortcuts on the default desktop and/or in the system tray, but some only appears on the Programs menu.

The TX2000 is currently shipping with updated drivers and Vista Service Pack 1 pre-installed. This means that out of the box, the machine doesn’t need to download hundred’s of megabytes of updates and fixes and that the drivers are SP1 compatible. (My review unit needed some updates from the HP Support site, including a BIOS update and some drivers, but HP has one of the best systems I’ve seen and their “Softpaqs” are nearly bulletproof. After installing the HP updates, I made a few passes at Windows Update and downloaded and applied a few rounds of updates before SP1 was offered.) After Vista was done downloading about 121 megs, SP1 installed in about 25 minutes.

The networking options for wireless vary, but the higher end selection of a/b/g/n (draft) 802.11 with Bluetooth certainly meet all my criteria. The hard drive choices are 160, 250, or 320 GB 5400 RPM SATA. For an optical drive, HP included a LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support.

Like the TX1000 series, the TX2000 NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 6150 graphics chip drives the display. Video memory is shared and not dedicated (one of the few things I dislike). You can, however, alter the amount of dedicated memory in the system BIOS settings. The Video rating is what drives down the overall Windows Experience rating. In spite of the rating system (which I don’t think really represents any real time normal usage), I’m happy with the performance of this notebook.

The TX2000 has 3 USB ports (but no Firewire-fortunately the ExpressCard 34 firewire cards I bought work just fine so I can hook up my Canon HV20 camcorder and import and edit video). Video out is VGA (I’d prefer HDMI or DVI). A 12.1 inch screen runs a max resolution of 1280 x 800. It weighs about 4.5 pounds and at its thickest is 1.5 inches.

After using the fingerprint reader on the original TX1000, I don’t think I’d consider purchasing any notebook or tablet that didn’t include one. I use the TX2000’s fingerprint reader for convenience. Much easier than typing in long passwords on web sites and having it actually encourages me to use different strong passwords for individual websites. One trick I learned living in a changeable climate where outside is 10 degrees and inside is 70 – my fingers when cold don’t register the same way as they do when at normal room temperatures. So on each hand, I’ve registered two fingers at room temperature and two more when I’ve just come inside from colder weather. And I have a warm and cold thumb as well. This insures quick and positive authentication.

While providing business class tablet pc features, the TX2000 is an entertainment centric pc. As I look around at what is available from manufacturers that include true tablet functionality, a webcam, fingerprint reader, media center and music player functionality, the TX2000 stands alone and in a class by itself. This would actually make a great business machine. While I doubt Enterprise IT types would be interested in mass deployment (sadly), anyone with a small or home based business should take a good hard look at this one. I’ve got a friend in the real estate business that would LOVE the TX2000.

Anyway, I’m about to take the TX2000 on an extended road trip. I’ve loaded up both Adobe’s photo processing software and Nikon Capture NX as I plan to do some digital editing of what I shoot with my D300. I’m hoping that the weather cooperates. The TX2000, my Nikon D300 and various necessary odds and ends all fit nicely in my Kata 101 photo backpack. I’ll be posting a follow up on performance (and more) after my return. In the meantime, I see that Circuit City is starting to receive a pre-configured model, so if you want to check the TX2000 out yourself..

Some unboxing and setup images can be found at one of my websites.

Out of the box, the DSM-750 blows the dinky Linksys DMA 2100 out of the water. Solid construction and a nice looking peripheral that doesn’t look like cheap plastic in my living room. The DMA 2100 has no optical SPDIF (RCA flavor digital SPDIF only) and worse, does not see Atheros based 802.11 Draft 2.0 N SSID’s and probably some other brands. The DMA 2100 only has two antennae. D-Link has all the ports and three antennae, which really helps with wireless connectivity .

D-Link integrates network setup with Extender setup and it is a real easy task to get up and running. While I admit to having had experience with a beta engineering sample, the engineering sample was wired only without the 802.11n dual band capability. I was really impressed with how well it worked and how integrated it was. D-Link has tons of experience with something like 6-7 previous versions in the Medialounge wireless media player line. This experience shows.

The Linksys takes forever to connect to the host Vista machine while the D-Link connects seamlessly and far more rapidly.

In my opinion, if you have a choice between the Linksys DMA 2100 and the D-Link DSM-750, the D-Link is well worth the wait. Linksys was first to market, but the race is not always to the swiftest.

My only beef was that the stark white color made the device stick out like a sore thumb. I stumbled on a page on D-Link’s web site that showed some skins for the DIR-655 router. Since the form factor for the DAP-1555 is the same, I decided to go for it. I went with a color scheme that sort of matches my Xbox 360.

I priced a machine today, to see if the $$ were more reasonable than the Dell $1700+ for a friend. I was pleased to see that the price is now under $1300. No monitor included. You can beef this up when you customize. No option for no installed crapware though (unlike Dell who doesn’t force you to take Norton, etc.)

“While the industry had waited for years for Vista, the software was not really ready when it was launched to great pomp at the start of this year” when your company has done so little itself?

Don’t blame Microsoft. You’ve had more than enough time to join the party.

Yes, my Ferrari 5000 runs like a dream under x64 Ultimate, but my Ferrari 4000 is still missing updated drivers for the pccard controller and media reader/card slot. Yeah, the 3 year old ones from XP x64 still work, sorta, almost.

The word “schmuck” comes to mind.

The big “if” about these events is that they are weather driven. The lift offs are scheduled for dawn and just before dusk because that’s when the winds are supposed to be the lowest. In the summer, it’s always a crap shoot as to whether the late afternoon brings thunderstorms.

I got lucky. Last Saturday the 7PM-ish lift off at the Hillsborough Balloon Festival actually happened (but the later balloon glow did not nor did the second day of evening activities as there were, er, tornado warnings posted along with t-storm warnings).

I shot something like 20 gigs of RAW digital. It was gorgeous, amazing, inspiring.

Up, up and away!

Wonder if this is applicable to humans?

I couldn’t make up stuff like this if I tried.

I live 5 minutes from the local Best Buy Store. So I drive to the store and two sales clerks try to help me out by showing me a $75 2GB microSD Sandisk card “that came in last night”. (In the process I walk by hangers of Sandisk 1GB cards at two different prices). I hold my ground and eventually a third clerk says, oh you want the phone card and pulls out the Sandisk 2GB microSD card with adapter marked $49.99. I grumble my thanks and walk to a register.

At the register, the checkout clerk only cares about trying to push rewards cards and service plans. She refuses to honor the $5.00 sale price I mention that is online and tells me I can always come back to the store and see Customer Service. I pay her the $50.

I left the register and walked over to Customer Service where three nice ladies listen to me complain about the $75/$49 bait and switch and my request for the $5.00 back.

All three mention without any prompting that online pricing is “different”.

I get $5.00 cash. I leave the store.

CNN Money’s “The Race to save Mother Earth in 8 Years” has the details.

Robert Alan Soloway crying poverty and using a public defender until slapped down. And driving his Mercedes convertible to court.

This guy should be deported. To another solar system.

Turns out this was not entirely fiction. Microsoft has unveiled a technology called Surface Computing that has many of the same features. MSNBC is running a really good piece on this new technology.

Pop Mechanics got an up close and personal view.

Look for this at T-Mobile stores, Harrah’s in Vegas and Sheraton (Starwood) Hotels. It’s a mere $10,000 per unit, but when the price comes down, I know what my next living room coffee table will be.

Someone at Panorama is WiFi phobic. My long standing opinion of the BBC as being grounded in meticulous research and analysis has crashed and there are no survivors.

I’m still struggling with the Tablet PC handwriting functionality. Without taking extra care to apply pressure to the stylus and write “just so”, I’m still getting Klingon letters. My friends among more knowledgeable tablet pc owners and Tablet PC MVPs tell me that this is due to the difference between the passive technology and the Wacom technology found in other vendor’s offerings. Still, I think that after some additional training, I could get some usefulness (but could never use tablet handwriting full time and give up the keyboard).

I’ve been sampling the entertainment features. The included QuickPlay application interface seems dull when compared to the Windows Media Center interface. QuickPlay doesn’t “see” media on networked drives except using Windows Media Sharing UPnP. I’ve got a lot of media on desktops, so would have preferred the ability within the QuickPlay app to find source media on these drives directly in the same way MCE allows me to. QuickPlay does support Karaoke and .car files. I’m pretty sure college kids will find this a great feature. (If you’ve ever heard me try to sing you will be grateful that I didn’t attach an audio sample to this post.) I’ve heard a rumor that QuickPlay will eventually tie in with Slingbox and asked HP about this. They’ve confirmed this will happen and will show up after an update in the TV source section of QuickPlay.

Speaking of Recorded (and Live TV) while HP makes a TV Tuner that fits older notebooks with an ExpressCard/54 slot, they do not offer one for ExpressCard/34 slots. This is disappointing (although there are USB tuners available). This would be a great accessory add-on and hopefully this is at least on the drawing board.

The TX1000 comes with an awesome mini remote. One real plus (and a great feature) is that the included mini remote control that stores in the ExpressCard/34 slot operates both QuickPlay and MCE. That was a surprise and a pleasant one at that! Equally surprising (and amazing) is that the remote can be used to present a PowerPoint slide show.

Stereo Altec Lansing speakers are mounted below the screen and rotate with the display. This means that when tablet mode is used, the speakers don’t get buried under the screen (and are front and center in every configuration you use). There are dual headphone jacks (good for those airplanes trips when two of you want to watch the same DVD or listen to the same music) and one apparently supports SPDIF if you purchase a special cable.

There were two sets of (really cheap, as in $6.99 for two when you include if customizing the notebook on line) earbuds included with the package I received. I’m a proud owner of Shure E5C’s (http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/Products/Earphones/ESeries/us_pa_E5c_content ) so I didn’t try the earbuds that were supplied.

There are buttons surrounding the rim of the screen that invoke QuickPlay, DVD and buttons behind the rim for stop, play/pause, FFWD, REW, etc. These are accessible in all rotation modes. Clearly well thought out and pretty neat to find. This gives the TX1000 high marks as an entertainment device.

tx1000

HP and AMD were looking for non tablet users to evaluate a new “convertible” tablet pc and I raised my hand. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could adapt my computing lifestyle and become more productive at the same time. Plus, there was the chance that if I could find all the  drivers, x64 Vista might actually run beautifully on the Turion x64 x2 processor. I knew it would ship with 32 bit Windows. I told the AMD folks up front that I’d be installing x64 on the machine. If you order this Tablet PC from the HP web site, one of the options if you customize is an upgrade to x64 Vista Ultimate. Yes, there is hope! This is the first I’ve seen of an option for 64 Bit Vista pre-installed. Thank you, HP, for making the commitment to 64 bit computing.

The HP Pavilion TX1001xx Tablet PC arrived on Tuesday, March 20th. I’ve had a few days to experiment, I’ve spoken to HP a bit about the unit, and this is the first of several posts about my experiences and opinions.

As much as Bill Gates has wanted tablet pc’s to become the mainstream choice of road warriors, students, and entertainment aficionado’s everywhere, the tablet pc has been a concept that hasn’t yet grabbed the attention of middle America. I’m trying to frame my experience both as the target market (students, teachers, entertainment enthusiasts looking for a small machine to travel with is my guess as to the real target) and how it fits in with my own probably higher end needs.

I won’t keep readers in suspense. I mostly like this convertible tablet after 4 days of use. But I’ve used it mostly as a traditional notebook since I’m still trying to train myself and/or the handwriting recognizer.

The unit I was provided is the top of the line model with all the bells and whistles. Specs include an AMD Turion x64 x2 TL-60 with 2 gigs RAM and an embedded Nvidia 6150 video chip with 128megs (shared) memory. It arrived nicely packaged in typical HP style and included the Tablet PC, a regular and extended use battery, power cord, two sets of earbuds, a remote control for the consumer IR (that stores in the ExpressCard/34 slot), a quick setup guide, manuals, etc. I was able to attach the extended life battery, assemble the two piece power cord and plug it in to be charged without reading anything (DOH!).

The computer came with a 160 gig SATA drive in a large C:\ partition with Vista Home Premium 32 bit installed and a small mostly hidden D recovery partition. HP offers a $19 option on their web site with customized orders for actual recovery media. I used Vista’s disk manager utility to shrink the partition to about half its original size, and then installed Vista Ultimate x64 as a dual boot. The drivers and bits I needed were actually in a flat folder on the original C drive, except for the software needed for the fingerprint reader. It wasn’t available as a restore from the Recovery bits either. HP is sending a CD so that I can install on the 64 bit side.

My initial impression is that the computer is extremely well made. Nice piano black finish (which is HP assured me is extremely durable. This model comes with a touch screen (and stylus) and is easy to convert to tablet mode. The coolest feature is the embedded Authentec fingerprint reader (and accompanying software). I’ll have a lot more to say about that soon.

I’ve calibrated the tablet and more or less can use the stylus in tablet mode, but I scribble faster than the learning mode of handwriting recognition is able to cope with. There are 50 sentences. I’ve been through them all once and am doing additional training. I’m a Type A personality and it’s really hard to slow down and write at a speed that the recognizer can keep up with. When I do slow down, I think that the recognizer does its job. So I fear that I’m the one that has to be trained and not the tablet. I’ll need some time to work through this before I have a real verdict. I also have to figure out how to incorporate handwriting in my day to day computing life. I tried a grocery list but it came out in Klingon the first time. I’ll keep trying. Personally speaking, my own needs have not generally included scribbled notes. My handwriting has degenerated over the years and is worse than my doctor’s and I type 90 wpm. This may take a LONG time.

This machine is to be marketed as an “Entertainment” system and I was disappointed that there was no DVI or HDMI out (plain VGA is the highest quality supported) and that there was no firewire port. I went looking at retail for an ExpressCard/34 firewire card so that I could try video editing on this machine, but struck out completely. Even the local Apple Store didn’t have one. I’m thinking about ordering one online. When I asked HP, I was told they hadn’t tested any cards like this with this computer, so I’ll be breaking new ground.

HP offers a few choices for wireless NICs. 802.11b/g – 802.11a/b/g and a 802.11b/g/draft n. The machine I received had the a/b/g. I had some real issues copying large files over my network wirelessly. The connection dropped out on all my G networks (all Atheros based routers and access points). I downloaded and installed a newer driver from the HP support site (this driver was not present on Windows Update and out of the box, x64 Vista installs an old June 2006 Broadcom driver). I’m chugging along on 802.11a fine with this driver copying over the network (same Atheros on the other end) but G drops out. Note that on my Acer Ferrari 4000, the wireless 802.11 b/g (no A) Broadcom chip has received several updates from Windows Update and has no issues copying over the same network. My friends at D-Link are sending me an ExpressCard/34 802.11 draft N card. I’ll report back on how that works.

There was alot of software installed on the 32 bit side, enough to make the Vista desktop look cluttered. HP has a “Quick Play application that handles images and music and videos (included Media Center Recorded TV dvr-ms unprotected files). The included remote works with this app. I much prefer the richness of Microsoft’s Windows Media Center which is included in every version of Home Premium and Ultimate. Both a licensed version of Microsoft Works and a trial version of Office 2007 were pre-installed. If you custom order this machine, you can order a licensed version of Office 2007 as well. Office 2007 is my preferred choice over MS Works.

I was not excited to see lots of AOL and Yahoo related software. The homepage was preset to some HP/AOL hybrid. Norton Internet Security 2007 had been pre-installed and it slowed the system to a crawl. I removed it and installed a trial version of ESET’s NOD32 (which I run on my own machines) and the performance difference was like night and day. HP states they need a well supported AV solution and I understand that. But I will still recommend removal of Norton and replacement with another less system crippling AV before doing anything else.

HP tells me that the TX1001xx (model number may vary depending on options) will be available widely at retail in early April. While I don’t know the specs of what will be at retail, when I priced a customized machine as close as possible to what I received, the price was around $1950. Pricing a model with x64 and a little more customization was around $2050.

tx1000

There is native support in the Vista shell and Windows Photo Gallery to display WDP format (but sadly, none in Windows Media Center).

I actually have been testing the plugin with Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0. Using the default setting of .9 lossy, the file size is about half of saving to a non compressed jpg. Hit the slider and go up to 1.0 on this new format and the size is bigger.  The plugin allows files to be saved as WDP or HDP. HDP is not working for me in the Windows Shell or Photo Gallery (x64 Vista). The files save, but no file association is created. I can open them in PSE 5.0, however.

Screen capture below shows support in PSE 5.0, Windows Photo Gallery, and the explorer shell.

I’ve had a few adventures at our local Best Buy where an item shown on sale at a good price on the web is more expensive at the physical store. Recently this happened with a leather case I bought for a Zune Player. I argued at the cash register and at the service desk and got no where as the web site they brought up had different prices. I had to go home, print out the web site and go back to the store with a print out and wait for someone with the authority to check the real web site. I got my refund.

The State of Connecticut is helping consumers everywhere by pushing this one hard

Why is it that the quality of computer equipment you can buy at retail continues to spiral ever downward? Pretty soon there will be no choices for retail consumers and prices will climb every skyward. I have yet to see a desktop or laptop at any of the bog box stores I’d want for myself.

The folks at i-mate really are a class act. The Momento 70 I’ve been using is pre-production from the floor at CES 2007. While in a IM conversation with their Sideshow developer, he mentioned that these frames can be updated remotely and that they poll and pull down new firmware. So I asked to see this in action (and to get newer firmware). When I “woke” the frame this morning, a screen displayed advising me that a software update was available and instructed me to press OK on the remote. After only a few seconds, the frame rebooted and came right back up displaying images. I checked through the menu system, and it reported a new version. Take a bow, guys. This is what “transparent ease of use” is all about.

I’ve got the Live Sidebar Stock Quote gadget on my desktop and have enabled it for the Momento in the Windows Sideshow Control Panel applet. I also received a test weather application that is sideshow enabled from the same talented programmer and enabled that as well in the Sideshow Control Panel Applet. This one relies on a weather feed subscription from MSN Weather configured in IE7 on Vista.

Here’s a close-up showing the detail:

I’ll have more to say about this one soon.

The photos and the HD video were amazing. Here’s a sample from the slide show he presented of his work. Not only is his work stunning beyond belief, but he is a polished and engaging presenter. I can only dream about some of the places he’s been. He’s documented the beauty of nature elegantly and it’s never been truer that a picture is worth 1000 words.

On the residential networking side, lots of new devices (and hopefully old devices via firmware upgrades) work transparently with Vista over the network using LLTD and other Windows Rally technologies. I’ve seen cameras, photo frames and wireless routers so far.

Saw a demo today at a private showing of WCN Simple Config using my favorite router, the D-Link DIR-655 (GigE, Draft N, what could be better?). This Window’s logo’d router will be on display at the CES 2007 Partner Pavilion. It supports configuring a new SSID with WPA2 over a wired connection using a vendor supplied 8 digit authorization key. I wrote about this last year. And now the finished consumer routers are available. It’s great news for the unexperienced consumer.

Also, it IS connected to a Comcast Set Top Box. The supplied tuner accepts a coax connection and also allows s-video and R/L stereo inputs via a dongle that plugs into the tuner card.

Correct side up (rear view)  

Velocity Micro and Comcast STB  

Close-ups of front and back are below.

It’s quite the machine and has center stage in my living room, hooked up to my 45 inch LCD. I’m running sound out through SPDIF to my Home Theater. Came with one of those MCE keyboards. I like the keyboard but not the stick mouse on it (too stiff) so hooked up a wireless MS notebook mouse. When I find the Gyration Air Mouse I’ve hidden away somewhere, I’ll replace the mouse with that.

And it’s up and running. DHL was here very early and I’ve had a fun day setting up this super screamer that Microsoft and AMD sent me.

I’m going to relax and watch a little TV now.

The nice folks at AMD recently provided an Acer Ferrari 5000 with 2 gigs of RAM and swapped out the hard drive for a faster 7200 RPM upgrade from the stock configuration. With the latest ATI (AMD) video driver for the Mobility Radeon x1600, I’m convinced I have the coolest and fastest laptop on the planet. I thought the Ferrari 4000 was to die for, but the 5000 is even better.

The 5000 provided to me had an included Atheros a/g wireless radio. While that works fine with all my a/g routers and access points, I have some draft N equipment as well. With the Ferrari, I felt the need for speed. Vista does not have any 64 bit Draft N Atheros drivers at this point (altho there are drivers for Atheros 802.11 a/g). I don’t know what those folks are doing. However, there ARE in box drivers for Broadcom based draft N for x64 so that is what I’m using.

12/28/06: The Ferrari 5000 was provided by AMD and not part of the Microsoft/AMD program. Through the MS/AMD program, I received a Velocity Micro MCE Vista desktop and disclosed it as such.

I was pretty excited to discover that the Windows Photo Gallery application in Windows Vista includes easy to use photo editing tools and redesigned image import and organizational tools. The new editing features included in Windows Photo Gallery rival those found in several third party add-on programs that I’ve used over the years. Windows Photo Gallery now allows easy transfer of digital images to Windows Movie Maker as well as transfer of images to the brand new Windows DVD Maker. These tools all work together in a very intuitive manner and provide amateur photo enthusiasts with the tools they need to easily organize, rate, edit and distribute their digital images.

I’ve recently spent a fair amount of time showing a neighbor with a new digital camera how to use the features for image and photo handling in Microsoft Windows XP. While Picture Tasks in Windows XP allows her to perform a number of functions, there are no tools included to perform basic photo editing. She needs a third party program to do simple things like remove red eye and/or crop her photos.

Not everyone takes perfect pictures every time, and many new amateur photographers don’t know that adjusting exposure and/or color can “save” a bad image and turn it into a great one. Various external programs of varying complexity ranging from “free” to several hundred dollars are available to perform these tasks. There’s usually a steep learning curve, except for a few that offer auto adjustment modes.

I jumped on the digital camera bandwagon early on. I currently shoot with a Nikon D200 DSLR and also use a relatively new Nikon Coolpix P2. The D200 uses Compact Flash cards. I’ve programmed this camera to store images in both high quality JPEG and Nikon NEF RAW file formats to have the greatest flexibility in image editing and management. The Coolpix P2 uses Secure Digital (SD) cards and stores images using the JPEG file format.

Windows Photo Gallery handles an impressive number of file formats. I’ve been able to view and edit all the images I’ve shot with my two cameras except those shot in RAW format. For purposes of writing this column, I set my D200 to shoot both RAW and JPEG. The difference between RAW and JPEG is that JPEG is processed in the camera and RAW is normally processed on the computer (providing more power and control). Some RAW support will be available when Vista ships. Camera makers like Nikon and Canon will have RAW codecs available for download (and will eventually ship them with cameras) that will enable you to view RAW files in Windows Photo Gallery. Applications will be able to take advantage of API’s built into Vista and the upcoming RAW codecs to convert to formats (such as JPEG) for editing.

On the first warm Saturday in March, I jumped in the car and headed for the Stone Zoo in Stoneham Massachusetts to try out my new D200 with a new 18-200mm zoom lens. I also brought the travel sized Coolpix P2. When I returned home later that day, I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to try out the digital imaging capabilities of Windows Vista.

In this article, I’ll explain:

• How to get the images from the camera to the computer
• How to add images already on your hard drive to Windows Photo Gallery
• How to edit and improve your pictures using the Fix menu
• How to print your photos, order prints and share edited images with friends and family

How to get the images from the camera to the computer

Before you can start using the many features of Windows Photo Gallery, you’ll probably need to go through a one time device detection and driver installation so that you can transfer images to your computer. Windows Vista smartly detects cameras connected via USB and treats them as removable hard drives.

I decided to try the built in 8-in-1 media reader in my desktop with the 4GB Compact Flash card I use with my D200. I removed the card from the camera and inserted it in the appropriate media reader slot in my desktop computer. Discovery, driver installation and the display of AutoPlay options were fast. Windows Vista performed the following functions automatically:

1. Detected the Compact Flash card and installed device driver software (see Figure 1)

Figure 1:Windows Vista automatically detects camera storage when the camera is first connected with a USB cable.

2. Displayed a message that a driver was successfully installed
3. Displayed available user choices using AutoPlay (see Figure 2)

Figure 2: After recognizing the Compact Flash card as a removable disk, Vista automatically displayed the available choices.

I next used the Import function to add the JPEG images to Windows Photo Gallery.

Windows Vista displayed a message indicating the number of picture discovered and displayed the option to enter a tag as shown in Figure 3. Windows Vista and Windows Photo Gallery in particular allow you to augment files, including images with rich metadata to help you find, identify and sort files. I’m hoping to be able to write about how tags and ratings help enrich the end user experience in a future article.

Figure 3: I created a tag named “zoo shots” which become part of the rich meta data that can be associated with files in Windows Vista

I then connected the Coolpix P2 via USB to the same computer so that I could import the images from the second camera into my zoo shots collection. Device discovery was again fast and easy as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Windows Vista quickly completes auto-discovery and confirms successful device driver installation for the Coolpix P2 camera.

Note: If Windows Photo Gallery is already open, you can also import from a camera (or scanner) by selecting the File menu, Import from Camera or Scanner.

How to add images already on your hard drive to Windows Photo Gallery

By default, Windows Photo Gallery includes the contents of the Vista Pictures folder. Adding additional content not stored in the default location is easy. You can even add photos stored on another computer on your home network. I’d been regularly transferring images wirelessly from the Coolpix to a computer running Windows XP Professional using the WiFi capabilities of the Nikon. Since I’d shot two media cards worth of photos with the Coolpix, I transferred the second batch of photos over my wireless 802.11 a/g network to the XP computer to see how Windows Photo Gallery would handle networked content. I was impressed!

Add folders to Windows Photo Gallery by following these steps:

1. Select the File menu in Windows Photo Gallery
2. Select Add Folders to Gallery
3. The Add Folders window is automatically displayed
4. Browse to the location to be added, highlight the folder and select OK.
5. The new folder will appear in the Photo Gallery Folders list

Figure 5: Browse to the target location or type in the name of the folder you wish to add to Windows Photo Gallery.

Tip: When you add photos to the gallery, a Vista style browse window appears. You can browse to the folder you wish to add, or as a shortcut, type in the Path in the field that is provided. If you have images in a shared folder on a different computer on your network, you can type in the UNC path. The UNC path starts with a double backslash followed by the computer name. In the example in the image above, I started typing in \\gifthorse and after a few letters were typed, Windows Vista displayed the shared folders in a drop down list. I clicked to select the shared network folder with images to be added to the gallery. See Figure 5.

How to edit and improve your images using the Fix menu

Once I had added all the images I’d shot from the zoo trip to the gallery, it was time to try out the editing features.

Tip: Although Windows Vista automatically keeps an intact copy of an original image that you can revert to, I find it best to save an extra copy an image before I edit it. To do this while in Fix mode, select the File menu, Duplicate. This lets me look at images side by side for comparison after editing is completed.

To access editing features, select the image to be edited and click the Fix menu. (The Fix menu items will display on the right.)

1. Select Auto Adjust and Windows will automatically adjust the exposure and color
2. Select Adjust Exposure to manually adjust either or both the Brightness and/or Contrast
3. Select Adjust Color to adjust any or all of the following:
   • Color Temperature (see Figure 6 for an example)
   • Tint
   • Saturation

As you move the sliders to adjust Exposure or Color the change is made instantly. If you make an adjustment you don’t like, click the Undo arrow. If you use my tip above, you’ll always have a copy of the original image if you later decide to compare and don’t like the results.

Figure 6: As I moved the Color Temperature slide to the right, the colors became warmer.

Two of the Fix menu features that I think I will use frequently are the Crop Picture and Fix Red Eye. Crop Picture can turn an uninteresting or too busy or confusing image into a better shot.

How to Crop a Picture

1. Select Crop Picture
2. Select a Crop mode
   • Original allows you to drag the corners and move the center of focus
   • Custom allow you to drag the corners and the sides to create custom sizes such as panorama style
   • Other settings allow you to select standard print sizes such as 8 x 10, 5 x 7, 4 x 6, or 3.5 x 5 as shown in Figure 7

Figure 7: I am cropping this image to an 8 x 10 standard size in landscape format which I think makes a more interesting picture.

3. Rotate Frame allows you to instantly switch from portrait to landscape crop and back again.

Note: There is an Undo/Revert arrow that can be used if you are not happy with the cropped result.

While I didn’t end up with any photos that needed Red Eye correction on my trip to the zoo, I still had a few old photos in my collection to use to try Photo Gallery’s Red Eye correction capabilities. Red Eye is usually caused by using flash. While some digital cameras offer a way to fix this in the camera, many do not. Fortunately, Windows Photo Gallery includes a feature to quickly and easily do this.

To fix Red Eye

1. Select the Fix menu.
2. Zoom in on the red eye area. To zoom, click the magnifying glass and then use the slider to enlarge the area.
3. Use your mouse to draw a rectangle around an eye. Make the rectangle as small as possible but be sure to include all the color area to be changed.
4. The correction is displayed instantly.

Figure 8: I’ve zoomed in on a red eye to correct using the zoom slider and draw a rectangle enclosing the area to correct.

How to print your photos, order prints and share edited images with friends and family

After I’d edited the pictures I shot on my trip to the Stone Zoo, I couldn’t wait to share the best of the group with friends and family. I’ve got an HP Photosmart 8450 printer connected via Ethernet to my router. I wanted to print a couple of photos to show my neighbor.

To print a photo:

1. Select the image to print
2. Click the Print menu
3. Specify the size, DPI quality size and type of paper, etc. as shown in Figure 9
4. Click Print

Figure 9: With my fully supported HP Photosmart 8450, I have a wide variety of ways to print great photos!

Ordering professional prints from one of the online providers Fujifilm, Shutterfly, or Kodak Easy Share Gallery (formerly Ofoto) couldn’t be easier. These printing companies can all be accessed from the Print menu, Order Prints.

I was easily able to email my best shots to my cousin in Florida from within Windows Photo Gallery. As in Windows XP, images can be scaled to several sizes and are automatically attached to a new message in Windows Mail for you.

The Create menu in Windows Photo Gallery links to Windows Movie Maker and the new Vista DVD Maker as well as Create Data Disk (CD). Select a group of images and then select Create, Movie. The selected images are sent to Windows Movie Maker which opens automatically. Place a writable DVD in your DVD-RW drive, select a group of images, and then select Create, DVD. Windows DVD Maker will open. It’s really easy and intuitive.

Summary

Windows Photo Gallery supplies all the tools that an amateur digital photographer needs and is one of the easiest to use applications I’ve used. It is seamlessly integrated with other Windows applications to share digital content. I can’t wait for my friends and family who have needed help over the years to transfer, improve, and share their digital photos to upgrade to Windows Vista.

Any Questions? (Added a 2nd image showing MCE controls for the disbelievers..)

Install a 32 bit decoder. Navigate to the Programs (x86) folder and find the Windows Media Player folder. Open the version of WMP that is in this folder. Open your recorded TV. Enjoy.

I’m not thrilled with the quality of VGA out, but I was able to drag MCE to the second monitor (45 inch LCD TV). DVI is a no-go.

The Ferrari laptop (right) supports DVI out and I was hoping… x700 Mobility Radeon with 128 megs memory —

I’m beginning to like the revamped interface. It still needs some work but it does allow more “stuff” to be viewed on the available screen real estate.

Currently trying the Media Center Extender functions on my Xbox 360.

Connected via a D-Link DGL-3420 gaming adapter.

Running wide screen 1080i and Dolby Digital 5.1

Disclaimer (unless you live in the UK or Canada for the router piece): Do all of this at your own risk. You know, professional driver on a closed course. Results may vary.

First, if you own D-Link DWL-G650 Rev B or C cards, DWL-AG660 or the soon to be released DWL-G680, go to ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Wireless/dwlg520_revB/Drivers/ and get dwlg520_revB3_drivers_318.zip. Yeah, I know it says 520. Extract it to your hard drive and run the setup program. If prompted do NOT disable WZC. Next, insert your card/select update driver, and use the have disk option to manually select the driver to install. Point at the Drivers directory where you extracted the zip file. If prompted that it is not for your hardware, etc. etc. install it anyway. Take the leap of faith.

If you have a D-Link 624 router, hardware Rev Cx, go to the D-Link UK ftp site ftp://ftp.dlink.co.uk/di_broadband_gateways/DI-624_rev_cx/ and grab di-624_rev_cx_fw_v2.53.zip. Update your router’s firmware. The firmware has all the US allowed channels and no non allowed channels. If you live in Canada, try http://support.dlink.ca/ProductView.asp?ProdID=219

But you have to have the “right stuff” from the right vendor. D-Link has done it up right. Check out their DI-624S ‘wireless storage router’. This router can be configured with a USB Flash Drive/thumb drive/memory key that was used with the XP Wireless Network Setup Wizard. Even better, when you’re finished with setup, the two USB ports on the router itself provide shared Network Attached Storage for USB hard drives and Flash drives for any computer on the network.

Even more exciting is the extension of the Windows Connect Now technology to consumer electronics devices such as wireless streaming media players. Check out D-Link’s latest MediaLounge (DMS-320RD). Here’s what happened after I plugged a USB Flash Drive with my WCN network settings into the WCN USB port on the back of this device.

I’d configured the network with strong WPA-PSK security using a 63 character random passphrase. After OK’ing this with the supplied remote control, the secure wireless connection was made, the device received an IP via DHCP from the router and I was off and running.

I’m impressed.

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