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Showing posts from September, 2008

Netbooks: where Windows XP shines

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I have been a very happy user of the Asus EEE PC 901 for several weeks now. I really started looking into the EEE line just when it launched with the 701 model. The 701 was an excellent idea: as full portable computer as possible for as little money as possible. But I soon realized the 701 specs were falling a little short from my expectations. The main reason was the screen, and especially it's horizontal resolution of 800 pixels. The main reason for buying a netbook is Web browsing and 800 pixels across is just not enough. 90% of web pages nowadays are designed for XGA or 1024x768 resolution. So 800 screen means you are getting a horizontal scroll bar most of the time. Handling just one scroll bar (the vertical one) is what we are used to. Most Web pages are simply longer than the monitors we use. But two scroll bars are just too uncomfortable. So I was really happy to learn Asus planned to launch the 900 series with 1024 screen. And then just after the Centrino - based 900 had ...

Panasonic FullHD Projector

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FullHD has gone mainstream. So it has been just about time to find a partner for the Sony PlayStation 3 . I have to admit the PS3 does not show any signs of physical or mental fatigue. It is still as beautiful and as jaw-dropping as on the day one in May 2007. The idea of setting a living room multimedia hub around the PS3 proved to be right. In tandem with the ReadyNAS , the PS3 is used very frequently to play and replay digital photos and DVDs. It also perfectly serves time-shifted recordings originating from the Drambox, the Linux - based satellite receiver. And it upscales standard movies to HD resolution. And yes, it plays Blue-Ray discs too. And... it is a game console. So, the perfect multimedia hub needs a perfect display. I was looking for something of a decent size (say 80 inch diagonal), that does not clutter the wall. So a projector was the default choice. And FullHD (1920x1080 native resolution) was the key requirement, as I did not want to lose any detail from the pin - s...

Confessions: good and bad picks

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We are nearing October 2008 that will mark full three years of my blogging. I posted a lot on gadgets and devices and I have to admit not all of them proved long term as good as initially expected. To be honest: most of them failed and I either sold them on an Internet auction or they found the way to the big box I keep in my basement... So the winners are: Sony PSP . I love the console, the speed of the games. And the latest version even has VoIP (as predicted). HTC SP5M . I lost it. And it was not 3G. But it would make it to the winners lounge. Non-touch Windows Mobile is really a good piece of an operating system. Google storage . I use it everyday. My Gmail is less than 20% full. And my Picasa holds my entire photo collection. Microsoft DirectPush . Love it. Even the 3G iPhone has it. HSDPA Internet on the go. Everybody is using it. Pandora . Fantastic. Shame the labels are killing it. Squeezeboxes . Have four of them, in use every day. Google Browser Sync . The only reason I sti...

Fujitsu ScanSnap S300

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Two years ago I wrote about the Paperless Home personal project. Using very simple and cheap scanner I started scanning every important piece of mail (or other documents) coming in paper form and converting them to the digital format. I continue organizing my personal documents this way, getting rid of almost any piece of paper as soon as it arrives and finds its way to my secure FDE drive . The end result is great. Whenever I have a need to get one of these documents it is a quick file search away and my physical cabinet for storing papers is almost empty now (well... may be not, but it is not filling up anymore). On the other hand, the process of scanning the papers has been fairly labor intensive. The scanner I used to use (an old Canon flatbed) was slow and the software was limited. Things like scanning double sided, multi page documents were taking long time and I could imagine not many people being patient and having enough perseverance to keep this process running every time so...