Category: Technology | Page 3 | Shiny Bits of Life

April 20, 2011November 2, 2012

Big brother?

Audi’s new A6 uses GPS and Google Maps to anticipate hills – so it knows when to upshift or downshift the transmission at just the right second. (Millisecond.) This increases performance and efficiency.

So the internet is even creeping into your future car’s transmission!

I do not say this in an alarmist manner. Rather, I see it as an exciting thing. This is technology being used well.

I think it’s even cooler when technology like that is used to bring clean water to people who might otherwise die. A friend of a friend, Erik Hersman, is doing stuff like that for Africa.

(By the way, I do have a big brother, in real life. He’s great. And by the way, this version of the A6 will hit US showrooms late in the summer of 2011. Stand in line now… just kidding.)

April 19, 2011August 10, 2011

Not fun but necessary

Dust accumulates in this corner about once a week. Maybe there is some kind of a vortex of air and dust particles that causes it to accumulate at an unnatural rate. In any case, I know that I must sweep it up or eventually there will be a dust pile that will take over the house.

Similarly, there are tasks we need to do regularly or we may pay the price. One price that might be huge relates to your data. When was the last time you backed up your data? If it wasn’t this week, think of the time you would lose if your hard drive crashed.

Solution? Easy. Buy an external hard drive.

Mac: Attach the drive and it will walk you through Time Machine, a built-in program. Apple has instructions here, if you need help.

Windows? Just about any external hard drive comes with a program to do automatic backups.

My recommendation is to leave the drive attached and let it do your backups regularly.

A word of caution: if you think your computer is too new to require this precaution, think again. My brother’s hard drive died last week after just 18 months.

April 18, 2011August 10, 2011

Apple Design decisions

I’ve always thought it was strange that Apple went in opposite directions for their iPad and iPhone lines.

Version 1 of the iPad has rectangular edges. Version 2 has a clamshell design.

The iPhone? Version 3 has a clamshell design. Version 4 has rectangular edges.

Apple is going divergent directions with these two product lines.

Preference for me? I like the clamshell.

April 6, 2011April 2, 2011

Cool new technology

At the Denver Auto Show, the Saab display was amazing. Not for the cars (though I do like the new 9-5) but rather for the giant screen at the end of their rectangle. It was one giant TV. (Sadly, the top photo does not do it justice.) It was made of LED panels that were assembled for the show. Think: one of those giant displays at a big-city football field, only one that the roadies can take apart and reassemble multiple times.

The lower photo shows a closeup of the backside of the display. Each panel section was about 2 x 3 feet and was made of lightweight white plastic.

Excellent.

January 25, 2011January 24, 2011

A way to speed up your Mac

Firewire 800 port This post is only for Mac users. Sorry, rest of the world.

If you have a Mac with a Firewire 800 port (see pic), you can save some of that frustrating “spin-up” time when your external hard drive awakens.

This applies if you are using Time Machine. (If you are not, please start right away! It may save your day – as it has for me, many times.)

Anyhow, do not use a USB 2.0 external drive for your Time Machine disk. Instead, buy a Firewire 800 drive, like the Iomega* I recently bought. It will save you maybe 2 minutes a day of waiting on your hard drive. That’s 8 hours a year.

If your Time Machine backup drive is not plugged in all the time, this post won’t apply to you. But the benefits of having access to lost data makes always-on Time Machine worth it for me. Particularly with a FW 800 drive.

* Not an affiliate link.

December 1, 2010November 26, 2010

Netflix Changes

Netflix is killing off cable and satellite TV, almost single-handed. It’s cheaper. There are more options on what to watch. You don’t have to watch ads.

And now you can stream movies and TV shows to your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. (The streaming to your computer option has been able for a while.) So they released a plan that is solely streaming with no DVDs by mail – for a mere $8 a month. Eventually, if Hollywood loosens its grip a little, I’m guessing all movies and TV shows will be streaming. Currently only about 10-20% of Netflix’s library can be streamed.

So of course they’d up their prices. The $17 plan is now $20. Other plans went up too. If you have a monopoly, why not raise your prices? (Yes, technically, there are other competitors, but Netflix is the 1,000 pound gorilla in that marketplace.)

Note for my overseas readers: Netflix is not yet available in other countries except Canada, but I think it’s a matter of time, if the country’s infrastructure can support it. I’m not expecting it in Afghanistan anytime soon.

September 24, 2010September 18, 2010

Never seen this before

September 20, 2010September 21, 2010

New iPod Nano Review

The new iPod Nano surprised me. I expected to dislike it. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

It helps to think of this one as a different class of iPod than the previous generation Nano. If you try to compare it with the old one, you’ll be disappointed. (This one loses a decent video camera and the ability to play videos.)

Other than the high price for what you get, I consider this to simply just be an amazing iPod Shuffle. It plays music well – you can navigate songs. If you are a jogger with the Nike + kit, it will help you measure your run. There’s a cool FM radio. Finally, there are some great accessibilty features for those who need such.

If you don’t need all that the incredible new iPod Touch* offers – and can afford it – this one may be for you.

(I took the photos at an Apple Store with my phone’s camera – thus the poor quality. They don’t like anyone to take photos with a real camera inside their stores. I know. I tried once. And Justin Bieber? I had never heard him before, so I took that opportunity. I hope I don’t have to listen to him again.)

Funny enough, while I was there I played with an iPod Classic. I was amazed at how fossil-esque the interface now feels. (I had one before they were called the Classic.)

* My son Ben wanted the new Touch so much while we were at the store that he was willing to sacrifice his right arm. I didn’t let him.

July 7, 2010July 5, 2010

Avoid Best Buy

…Just for this one thing, anyhow.

If you are about to buy a High Definition TV, don’t get the HDMI cable from Best Buy. A quick search on Yahoo Shopping yielded the same thing for $7.99 from Sears.

(By the way, we don’t have an HD TV. Low-definition is good enough for us. And most low-def players come with all the cables you’ll need.)

June 23, 2010June 20, 2010

Transmission overkill

merc-9sp The 2012 Mercedes S-Class sedans will have 9-speed transmissions. The idea is for them to have the smoothest and quietest shifts you can get.

To me, it’s overkill. Yes, refinement is great, but it is worth the extra expense? Our Honda minivan has a 5-speed transmission, which is wonderful. At highway speeds, it’s purring along at a very low rate of rpm’s. Our Toyota sedan makes do with just a 3-speed. That bothers me a bit, knowing that it would save some fuel if the engine spun at lower rpm’s in top gear.

I remember 10-speed bicycles being an innovation in the USA. My 1972 Gitane road bike came with a 10-speed. I upgraded it to a 12. Today most road bikes have 27 speeds. I’d be happy with 18. (Actually, I am happy with 12 – but I’d appreciate the difference 18 would add to my cycling experience.)