Saturday 27 August 2011
Logitech Squeezebox Boom
This is a superb piece of kit, you can point it at your music library which can be any folder on your home network, and you can then play any of your music. But its unique selling point is napster integration - pay your £5 to napster per month, and this box can then play any song at any time. Want to listen to the current charts ? Just goto the napster app, select playlist, official charts, top 100 tracks, and off you go.
Thursday 23 December 2010
Macbook Pro finally turned up - first looks
I have a feeling that Apple shipped everything from California - why they didnt say that on the site I do not know!
Anyway, the macbook pro finally turned up, I went for the 15 inch version, not too big, not too small.
Its quite light and very thin. It has an Intel I5 processor with 4GB of ram and 320GB of hard drive, I think the HDD is a bit small, considering I also have a 1TB portable usb drive as its time machine backup that cost less than 60 quid. But the power is amazing, I'm developing ipad apps, so quite often have xcode, interface builder, itunes and loads of safari windows open and it just keeps going.
The power cable is very apple - very cool with lights and a neat interface - until you realise that you are tied into an apple power charger - if that puppy breaks, its going to be expensive !
The quality of the graphics is fantastic, so all in all I am a happy man, if only apple had got it to me when they said they would
Anyway, the macbook pro finally turned up, I went for the 15 inch version, not too big, not too small.
Its quite light and very thin. It has an Intel I5 processor with 4GB of ram and 320GB of hard drive, I think the HDD is a bit small, considering I also have a 1TB portable usb drive as its time machine backup that cost less than 60 quid. But the power is amazing, I'm developing ipad apps, so quite often have xcode, interface builder, itunes and loads of safari windows open and it just keeps going.
The power cable is very apple - very cool with lights and a neat interface - until you realise that you are tied into an apple power charger - if that puppy breaks, its going to be expensive !
The quality of the graphics is fantastic, so all in all I am a happy man, if only apple had got it to me when they said they would
Monday 6 December 2010
Mobile Broadband - Zoom Mobile Internet
I went on a recent trip to Mexico, did some research and found out that it wouldn't work over there, so looked for a different solution.
I came across zoom mobile broadband, and ended up buying a 4596 modem with a 4506 router, not only did they work beautifully I managed to run up a HUGE phone bill !
The modem can plug straight into a laptop, you dont need the router, all you need to do is put your sim card into it. However, the ipad wasnt compatible, so instead you plug the modem into the router ,which creates a wifi hotspot that the ipad can connect to.
Unfortunately for me, Orange managed to co*kup the topup I bought and didnt apply it correctly, I now have the small matter of a £3000 bill to pay for....
Cant complain about this kit though, it did the job superbly.
In comparision to the Three Mifi, it gives a Wireless/N signal so it has a bigger range, but you cant really fit it in your pocket, where as the Mifi is about the size of a car key, and so you barely notice its there.
I came across zoom mobile broadband, and ended up buying a 4596 modem with a 4506 router, not only did they work beautifully I managed to run up a HUGE phone bill !
The modem can plug straight into a laptop, you dont need the router, all you need to do is put your sim card into it. However, the ipad wasnt compatible, so instead you plug the modem into the router ,which creates a wifi hotspot that the ipad can connect to.
Unfortunately for me, Orange managed to co*kup the topup I bought and didnt apply it correctly, I now have the small matter of a £3000 bill to pay for....
Cant complain about this kit though, it did the job superbly.
In comparision to the Three Mifi, it gives a Wireless/N signal so it has a bigger range, but you cant really fit it in your pocket, where as the Mifi is about the size of a car key, and so you barely notice its there.
Mobile Broadband - Three Mifi
Seeing as I only got a wifi ipad (what was I thinking?) I bought a Three mifi to create a wifi hotspot whenever I was out and about and needed web access.
The pricing plan wasnt great to start off with (me being a bit of a cheap skate I went for the pay as you go version), its £10 for 1GB of traffic or £15 for 3GB - which isnt unreasonable, but you only have 30 days to use it!
So I topped up £15 and got 3GB, and after 30 days, I had used.....90 megabytes, and my allowance disappeared, worked out at expensive per MB if you ask me.
I see now that Three have added a new option of £2 for a day, giving you 500mb of data, thats more like it !
Anyway, the unit itself has been great, I live in West Sussex and have not had a connection problem, and the speed is very quick. I downloaded a speed test app for the ipad and it averaged 2mb over 30 seconds - plenty quick enough !
The pricing plan wasnt great to start off with (me being a bit of a cheap skate I went for the pay as you go version), its £10 for 1GB of traffic or £15 for 3GB - which isnt unreasonable, but you only have 30 days to use it!
So I topped up £15 and got 3GB, and after 30 days, I had used.....90 megabytes, and my allowance disappeared, worked out at expensive per MB if you ask me.
I see now that Three have added a new option of £2 for a day, giving you 500mb of data, thats more like it !
Anyway, the unit itself has been great, I live in West Sussex and have not had a connection problem, and the speed is very quick. I downloaded a speed test app for the ipad and it averaged 2mb over 30 seconds - plenty quick enough !
Thursday 2 December 2010
Movie Streamer
Have had a netgear eva9150 streamer for nearly a year ago, I bought it to watch the movies I have stored on my network, and I have to say its probably the best bit of kit I've ever bought. I haven't found a video format yet it cant handle, it buffers to a local hard drive so even the highest quality movies work without any stuttering (even if it takes a few seconds before the film initially starts whilst it buffers the first 30 seconds or so). There are lots of complaints about the user interface (I think its ok, not great, but not bad) and apparently there are better gadgets for playing music and showing photos, who cares? It plays movies great, if you want a great music player, buy a sonos.
macbook still not turned up
When Apple say it will be despatched in 24 hours, I think its reasonable to expect it to turn up within 3/4 days of ordering it ?
Ordered macbook pro, it was despatched the next day with an estimated arrival date of 14 days later ! Its too late to cancel the credit card, so have to wait.
What a load of old tosh.
So far, Apple buying experience has been very poor, have previously used an apple partner who had the item in stock according to their website, turns out they meant it was in stock in the apple warehouse, who take weeks to deliver anything.
Goes to show how good amazon is doesnt it !
Ordered macbook pro, it was despatched the next day with an estimated arrival date of 14 days later ! Its too late to cancel the credit card, so have to wait.
What a load of old tosh.
So far, Apple buying experience has been very poor, have previously used an apple partner who had the item in stock according to their website, turns out they meant it was in stock in the apple warehouse, who take weeks to deliver anything.
Goes to show how good amazon is doesnt it !
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