Category: product endorsements

iPod touch review – Engadget

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, music, product endorsements, videocasts2 Comments

DON’T BUY AN iPOD TOUCH.

… At least not on Buy Nothing Day.

But two friends, so far, report that they love their new iPod touch.

It’s “an evolutionary leap for iPod, or a slight downgrade from iPhone.”

Click to check out the Apple 8 GB iPod Touch.

Apple 8 GB iPod Touch

One reviewer:

… all the best stuff from the iPhone made the cut in the touch. It shares the same audio, video, and photo apps as the iPhone, which is a good thing since we still love the new Apple mobile media interface every bit as much as we did when we first reviewed the iPhone. The iTunes WiFi Music Store works exactly as advertised; search is fast, sampling tracks and downloads are easy, and syncing tracks back to your host computer is effortless. Apple really nailed this. To date, most over the air music downloads on a portable media devices have been tedious, if not completely impractical.

Also unchanged are our primary complaints about said media playback, the same complaints we’ve had about the iPod for years: we don’t like managing our media through iTunes, and we don’t like being limited only to those few codecs Apple supports (AAC, MP3, H.264, and MPEG-4). In fact, if Apple gave us greater codec support (or even just the option to add additional codecs ourselves) and mass storage support for drag and drop while adding media, we’d probably be able to overlook the other, smaller things that ail us about iPods.

iPod touch review – Engadget

I don’t need one, myself, as I plan to get the iPhone. And I love my old Nano, in any case. I will be using it for years to come.

The new fatty Nano 4GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Silver (3rd Generation) is selling for $170 right now. The shuffle – 1GB iPod shuffle Silver (3rd Generation) – $90.

I expect many, many players to be delivered by Santa. Even the Zune 2 is worth considering.

BUY NOTHING Day – Nov. 23 or 24th

On By Rick McIn economics, product endorsementsLeave a comment

A great symbolic day of protest. Gandhi would be proud.

mad-santa.jpg

Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. In 2007, Buy Nothing Day falls on November 23rd in North America and November 24th internationally. It was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by the Canadian Adbusters magazine.

The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September of 1992 “as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption”. In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, which is one of the top 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside of North America, Buy Nothing Day is celebrated on the following Saturday. Despite controversies, Adbusters managed to advertise Buy Nothing Day on CNN, but many other major television networks declined to air their ads. Soon, campaigns started appearing in United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.

While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day, Adbusters states that it “isnt just about changing your habits for one day” but “about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste”.

Buy Nothing Day – Wikipedia

buy-nothing.jpg

Buy Nothing Day UK

If you like the concept, like me, consider Adbuster’s more extreme campaign:

zenta_claus.gifDreading the holiday season? The frantic rush and stress? The to-do lists and sales hype? The spiritless hours trapped in malls?

This year, why not gather together your loved ones and decide to do things differently? With the simplest of plans you can create a new rhythm, purpose and meaning for the holidays. Why not try a Buy Nothing Christmas? …

BUY NOTHING Christmas – Adbusters

Safari v Opera v Camino v Flock v Firefox 3

On By Rick McIn Apple, product complaints, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I know enough about the internet to use any browser. If I have a problem, I open the page in another. Normally I have two browsers open at any given time.

But what’s the BEST browser?

I would love to say that Safari (Apple) and Internet Explorer 7 (Microsoft) should be avoided. That they both come undermined with corporate agenda.

Internet Explorer 7 does suck worst of all browsers, in my opinion. Happily they do not make a Mac version.

I try to avoid Safari too. Yet it’s quite good. I don’t understand why Apple has not integrated all their other proprietary software (more like Flock). If they did, I’d probably use it.

I should recommend those browsers built and improved by volunteers. Non-profit organizations including Firefox and Camino. Their only motivation is to build a better browser.

In fact, Camino has been my primary browser. Then Firefox. Next Safari and Opera.

I did some testing on a new MacBook Pro:

Safari vs Firefox 3 vs Opera vs Camino vs Flock

I simultaneously streamed high resolution video on each. One hogged CPU badly. Firefox 3.0b1 (beta). Firefox has been criticized for memory leak for a while.

Firefox is GONE. At least until they fix that problem.

Now … there is one feature critical to me that has not caught on with the general public. FULL PAGE ZOOM of text, images and video simultaneously. I’m ticked off at the number of websites that post tiny font and tiny thumbnail images.

Only 3 of these browsers ZOOM properly: IE7, Opera and Firefox 3.

operalogo.gifSince IE7 and Firefox are disqualified, I will be switching to Opera as my primary browser.

That’s just me, on a new Mac. Your experience may be quite different.

I may try Flock as my second browser. Perhaps the one I use to blog. Or Camino, which has been best for me over the past year.

Safari vs Firefox 3 vs Opera vs Camino vs Flock

Comparison of web browsers – Wikipedia

Air Canada Winter Getaway Pass

On By Rick McIn product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

air-canada-logo.gifMy least favourite airline is getting great press. And making money.

This traveller just sent them $1060.

I purchased something called a Western Winter Getaway Flight Pass (2 month).

I can fly free any Tuesday, Saturday or Sunday from January 8 through Tuesday March 04, 2008. From most Western Canadian cities to Western American cities to which Air Canada flies.

It’s good value for me. Though inevitably I will have to fly back to Canada merely to turn around next day and fly South again. Air Canada does not fly between U.S. destinations and the Pass is not valid on their partners.

Fine print:

Available only to Canadian residents with a valid address, Aeroplan membership and PIN number at time of purchase and during the entire validity period.

… Flight credits can be used only on Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and Air Canada regional partners with Air Canada flight numbers. Codeshare flights operated by United Airlines and United Express are excluded

… Flight credit booking changes are subject to availability; a $75 CA fee per direction, plus taxes, applies to booking changes and cancellations

This pass is only available until December 2, 2007.

More information – Air Canada Flight Passes

book – A Piano in the Pyrenees

On By Rick McIn books, humour, product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

I am on a reading listening binge. (Thanks to Audible.com and hours each day on my bike with a Nano.)

The Ups and Downs of an Englishman in the French Mountains

A Piano in the Pyrenees: The Ups and Downs of an Englishman in the French Mountains

What? He’s not the world’s most famous skateboarder.

He’s Antony Gordon Hawksworth, better known as Tony Hawks, English comedian, author and philanthropist.

I loved his first book — Round Ireland with a Fridge and somewhat liked his second book — Playing the Moldovans at Tennis.

Piano is his fourth book. And it is excellent. I love the amusing, understated British humour.

A Brit out of his element in rural France after impetuously buying a house. Brilliant.

PS

A guy named Dave Nicoll also liked Round Ireland with a Fridge. Inspired, he decided to travel round the WORLD with a fridge.

Trek Soho – hybrid mountain road bike

On By Rick McIn cycling, product endorsementsLeave a comment

A friend of mine — who knows a lot about bikes — just ordered this one for commuting around town as I do.

It’s not quite a hybrid, rather closer to a mountain bike.

For serious transportation there are mountain bikes for trailes and road bikes for streets, however in the mixed pathways of a commute in the real world a more versatile bike is needed. Trek bicycles has expanded their line of bikes with their Urban lineup featuring this Trek Soho. Built specifically for city biking …

trek_soho_3_quarter_view-400-400.jpg

Trek Soho – ProductWiki, unbiased product reviews and information

My own Kona Blast mountain bike is going great after 18 months. I’ve been pretty good about maintenance.

switching to Gmail

On By Rick McIn Google, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Next week I expect to make it official.

I will keep my dozen or so OLD email addresses including Hotmail. But Gmail will get checked first.

It’s a bit of a pain to make the transition. But Hotmail is clogged with SPAM.

Google does a much better job of filtering. Here’s why:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Gmail: Google’s approach to email

2 billion photos on Flickr

On By Rick McIn photos, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I love social networking photo site flickr. (Owned by Yahoo.)

flickr2b.jpg

The picture above, Flickr confirmed via a phone call, is in fact the 2 billionth image uploaded to the site. The photo was taken by “yukesmooks” in Sydney on November 10th with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. It has the beautifully minimalist title “Picture 098.” …

Flickr says 3-5 million new photos are uploaded to the site daily.

Update: Just as a point of comparison, Facebook has 4.1 billion photos (of drunked women) on their site.

2 Billion Photos On Flickr

Zune 2 80GB MP3 player – great reviews

On By Rick McIn music, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Even Apple fan bois are giving high marks.

The good: The 80GB Microsoft Zune MP3 player features a 3.2-inch glass LCD; a user-friendly interface; exceptional navigation control; audio and video podcast support; a superlative FM radio with RBDS information; wireless syncing and sharing; high-quality earphones; revamped Zune Marketplace PC software; Zune Pass subscription music support; good audio quality; and a built-in composite-video output.

The bad: The Zune is a PC-only device that requires its own software and still does not support older WMA-DRM9 music files; Zune Marketplace does not offer TV or movie downloads; the USB connection is proprietary; no Wi-Fi music streaming; and the EQ feature has been removed.

The bottom line: The Zune has blossomed from an ugly duckling into a worthy iPod alternative.

Zune (second generation, 80GB, black) MP3 player reviews – CNET Reviews

Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player Black (2nd Generation)

Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player Black (2nd Generation)

Still …

My advice is not to buy any MP3 player with a spinning hard drive disk. You want FLASH memory like the iPod Nano. (Zune does not offer a flash player yet.)

The Microsoft strategy of excluding Apple and Linux users from using their products is a big mistake long-term. A big competitive disadvantage. If they want to compete, they need produce the best products, easiest to use for the most customers.

Sounds like Zune 2 is a good product. Why hobble it? Why not accept the inevitable decline in market share for OS software and try to gain market share in audio players?