August 23rd, 2007

Best mobile VoIP headset ever

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 6:53 am

Categories: Gadgetry, Hardware, Mac, Mobility, Windows

Tags: VoIP, Mobile, Plantronics, Headset, Marc Orchant

I’ve been using the new Virtual Phone Booth from Plantronics for the past few weeks and it has utterly transformed my Skype (and Gizmo and Google Talk) experience. Formerly, I have either relied on the built-in microphone and speakers on my laptops (with the attendant howling and echoing that too often seems to plague VoIP calls) or used the excellent but too-bulky-for-travel Plantronics DSP 500 headset. That big unit has been a great solution for voice recognition and podcasting but is not exactly comfortable or convenient for all-day work.

The Virtual Phone Booth is a pair of noise-isolating earbuds with an integrated microphone boom on that connects either directly through the microphone and headphone jacks on your PC or using an included USB adapter. The sound quality is excellent and the comfort is all-day, forget-you-have it-on. Folks I’ve been talking to via Skype and other services have repeatedly remarked on the excellent sound quality and in local tests with Audacity, the recording quality is more than sufficient for podcasing and screencasting duty. Volume and muting controls are built into a slim tub on the cord which also features a small clip to attach to your shirt.

The Virtual Phone Booth packs into an included hard case that’s about the size of a candy bar so it slips into the gadget bag with no problem and gives me a completely portable solution with no compromises when I’m out and about or on the road. This unit is a definite keeper! The Virtual Phone Booth retails for about $110.00 and is compatible with both the Mac OS and Windows.

I’ve also been using the latest Bluetooth headset from Plantronics, the Voyager 520. I’ve used the Voyager 510, an over-the-ear boom style headset, for years as it’s one of the most comfortable headsets I’ve used with excellent battery life and the relatively uncommon ability to multi-pair which allows me to use it with both a laptop and a mobile phone or with two mobile phones (yes, I am a gadget freak).

The 520 is a more conventional pod-shaped design that offers the same benefits and even better battery life. Plantronics has designed a new molded rubber earpiece that does a great job of isolating outside noise so that even in noisy environs on on a windy day the saound quality is excellent. The ear hook, unlike many headsets I’ve evaluated, is made from a very soft and flexible material that does not chafe or scratch. It’s a single button design which makes adjusting the volume or using other functions very easy. Plantronics has also designed a nice desktop stand (pictured here) that makes it very convenient to pop the unit in for a quick charge.

The Voyager 520 retails for $99.00 and worked perfectly with my MacBook, Lenovo Tablet PC, Nokia N95 and Apple iPhone.

August 21st, 2007

Keeping my (laptop) cool

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 8:52 am

Categories: Gadgetry, Hardware, Mobility

Tags: Desktop, Unit, Laptop Computer, Marc Orchant

I’ve been using the latest model from the folks at LapWorks - the Futura - for a while now and was delighted to see that every attendee at the recent Gnomedex conference received one as a premium for attending. It’s a nice sturdy unit that provides two form factors - a flat desk surface when you have no desk or table available and an elevated wedge stand when you do. The cutouts provide a lot of air circulation that keeps both my MacBook and Lenovo X61 Tablet PC nice and cool (both tend to get pretty toasty) and there are nicely spaced rubber bits arranged on the work surface to hold the laptop in place even at extreme elevation angles.

At $29.95, the price is right and the unit is compact and light enough to fit in my gadget bag with no problem. This unit is ideal for more compact laptops like the ones I’m using. If you have one of those honking big 17″ desktop replacement units, you might want to look at another model - LapWorks offers a number of different products for both mobile and desktop use.

August 15th, 2007

Great set of iPhone wallpaper images

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 7:13 am

Categories: Gadgetry, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Marketing, Movie, Image, Chris Glass, Marc Orchant

Chris Glass has posted a terrific set of images sized perfectly to be used as wallpaper on the iPhone. My personal favorite (and the one that’s replaced Van Gogh’s Starry Night - at least for now) is pictured here. I love robots - especially ones that transform! What can I say?

And yes, for those who are curious, I did see the movie a few weeks ago. It was good – not great – but I must say the effects were wonderful. As my son said, this movie should be required viewing for all marketing students as a classic exercise in over-the-top product placement. That having been said,  the new Chevy Camaro is one hot looking ride.

Hat tip to Merlin Mann for the link.

July 16th, 2007

First look: Jabra BT5020 Bluetooth headset

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 12:32 pm

Categories: Gadgetry, Hardware, Mobility, Uncategorized

Tags: Device, Adapter, Marc Orchant

I’ve been using a new Jabra BT5020 Bluetooth headset for the past few days and despite the short period of time I’ve had to use this device I am already a huge fan. Jabra claims ten hours of talk time and 300 hours of standby time and, while I’m unable to as yet verify the latter, I can attest to the fact that former number is no exaggeration. I’ve been able to use the device for four days (about eight and a half hours of talking so far) and it still has juice to spare!

Four things I really, really like about this headset:

1. It can be charged via USB or using the AC power adapter. Both cable and adapter are included.
2. It can pair with two devices simultaneously. I’ve been using it with the Nokia N95, the iPhone, the Mac Book, and the Lenovo X61t and it works just fine with any two of those devices at any given time.
3. It’s extremely light, comfortable, and almost invisible.
4. It sounds great - even outdoors with a bit of wind blowing.

At under $90, this is a great choice if you’re in the market for a compact Bluetooth headset with advanced features, great sound, and excellent battery life.

July 6th, 2007

Nokia updates the N800 with Skype and more

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 7:02 pm

Categories: Gadgetry, Hardware, Software

Tags: Memory Card, Nokia Corp., Streaming Video, Skype Technologies S.A., Marc Orchant

The mobile blogs have been buzzing all day about the latest software update fo the Nokia N800 internet tablet which was released today. Good coverage in a number of places but your first stop should be Thoughtfix’s live blogging of his update experience on Tabletblog.com. I plan to update my N800 over the weekend and will add an update to this post after I’ve done that. It’s going to be a big Nokia update weekend as a new firmware release for the N95 was also released today.

Here’s what’s new on the N800 with this release:

• Skype client support: free internet Calls to other Skype users and low cost calls to landline or mobile phone wherever there is a wireless connection
• Adobe Flash 9 browser plug-in: improved media performance when using video streaming services (including Homestar Runner which I am very excited about).
• Up to 8 GB memory card support: Memory card support has increased from 2 GB to up to 8 GB – device memory can be expanded up to 16 GB. SD cards larger than 2 GB must be SDHC compatible.

Other Improvements

• Increased battery life: Most of the improvements have been done around the wireless connection, resulting in remarkably longer online usages.
• Touch screen sensitivity has been improved: screen areas with most intensive use register events more efficiently.
• New pre-installed content:
  • Tableteer info applet
  • Updated Internet radio channels
  • Real Rhapsody player easy installer (available for US residents only)

July 6th, 2007

Essential gear for the road warrior

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 2:41 pm

Categories: Gadgetry, Hardware, Mobility, Uncategorized

Tags: Headphone, Marc Orchant

For the past few weeks, I’ve been traveling a great deal. Actually, I’ve been traveling a great deal for a long time. Part of the price I pay for living for where I do. But I’ve recently been able to travel in greater comfort and have arrived at my destinations feeling a lot more refreshed and energized thanks to an amazing bit of gear that I now include as a standard component in my gear bag. The Able Planet Clear Harmony noise-canceling headphones I’ve been demoing have made flying a completely different experience.

I’ve been a happy user of noise-isolating earbuds for quite a long time. The current buds I use provide exceptional sound and are extremely portable, two qualities I generally place a very high value on. The idea of carrying around a larger set of over-the-air headphones seemed like a trade-off I didn’t want to make.

How wrong I was!

Read the rest of this entry »

July 1st, 2007

I am such a weak person - I bought an iPhone

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 10:15 am

Categories: Gadgetry, Hardware, Mac, Mac OS X, Mobility, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Marc Orchant

I know… I know… I said I wasn’t going to do this. I had all the completely valid reasons to stay of the RDF and avoid being swept up in the iPhone madness. But yesterday morning I succumbed to the iPhone’s siren song and drove over to the ABQ Uptown Apple Store where iPhones were in plentiful supply. Three minutes later (yes, I timed it) I walked out with an 8GB iPhone.

I got home, plugged the iPhone into my already updated MacBook (the latest system update to 10.4.10 and iTunes 7.3 are required to activate and sync the iPhone) and, with trembling fingers (based on some of the activation horror stories I’d been following on Twitter, Jaiku, and via RSS), began the activation process. Guess what? No problema. Picked my plan (the 450 minute bucket with unlimited data), added more SMS (1500/month) for an additional $10 and clicked the Submit button. And then, less than two minutes later (yes, I timed this too), I had a new AT&T mobile number and a fully functional iPhone. While I understand that many, many people have a had a less-than-stellar activation experience, mine was as painless as can be.

It’s an amazing device. Typical Apple OMG experience. The display is gorgeous. The performance over WiFi is every bit as good as what I get with my Nokia N95. The EDGE performance is a little slower than the 2.5G I get from T-Mobile with the N95 and a lot slower than the EVDO I had been getting with my Treo 700p (which I’m returning to my now-former employer). That’s OK. I’ve been tethering both the MacBook and Lenovo X61t to the N95 and find the performance adequate for checking mail and light surfing. With the iPhone’s widescreen display, I have less reason to need to do that for a quick info fix.

Syncing up my contacts, calendar, photos, and a bit of my iTunes library (it’s only got 8GB and I have a 30GB iPod) went smoothly. Not sure if I’ll keep the iPod. One of my kids may be getting a great hand-me-down shortly. I can probably live with shuffling video and podcasts on and off the iPhone.

Text input is easier than my T9 fumbling on the N95 (I suck at T9 even though I’ve tried hard to get used to it). The predictive text is already learning my favorite words and I’m getting the hang of sliding my relatively big fingers when I initially touch the wrong letter to hit the one I was aiming for. The rotational function for iPod and Safari usage is fantastic – I wish it was available for all apps as it’s a lot easier to enter text on the wide onscreen keyboard.

I’m weak. I have no impulse control. My wife and my son are looking at me like I’ve taken complete leave of my senses. And I have yet to face the scorn of my daughter who will most likely roll her eyes and scathingly dismiss me as a complete geek. That’s OK. Their scorn will pass. I’m grinning like an idiot and having a blast with my new shiny bauble.

I’m off to San Jose for a quick overnight trip. I’ll post about the on-the-go experience with the iPhone in the next couple of days.

June 30th, 2007

iPhone day one - what does it all mean?

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 8:09 am

Categories: Gadgetry, Hardware, Mac, Mobility, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple Inc., Marc Orchant

My buddy Matt Miller wrote a nice post about alternatives to the iPhone on his Mobile Gadgeteer blog and as I perused (and joined in on) the comment thread, it occurred to me that a little long-view history lesson might be in order. I’ve been pretty disinclined to write about the iPhone because a) I don’t have one yet, b) I don’t think I’ll have one in my grubby little hands anytime soon, (update: so much for that theory) and c) there is so much noise about this device that adding to it seems like a fruitless pursuit (pun intended).

So I’m not going to weigh in on why the iPhone is better or worse than what’s already available, whether it represents the next stage of mobile evolution, or whether it will make your whites whiter, your teeth brighter, and you personally irresistible to… you get the idea.

What I did want to to toss into the mix, especially after reading the comments on Matt’s post, were the following observations:

• Apple is simply better than any other company in the tech world at reframing consumer expectations and the ensuing conversation. They have a more highly evolved sense of design than most companies – Bang and Olufsen and maybe Sony come to mind as others who have made design a clear differentiator in a similar fashion. The capture people’s imagination about the “how”, not the “what”. That is “how will using this device change the way I work and play” as opposed to “what features, functions, or technical details make this device different or better”. Don’t think design is important? Read Tom Peters’ Reimagine and get back to me.
• Apple markets better. Their ads are engaging. Their positioning is clear. Their CEO is a master presenter. Apple literally shut down the press room at CES this January when the Steve took the stage to announce the iPhone. Every journalist, blogger, and analyst in the room was watching the keynote. What they were not doing was paying any attention to the thousands of square feet of vendors surrounding them and the hundreds of thousands of products on display in Las Vegas. The fact that Apple has been able to sustain the insane level of interest in this device as they have for six months and built it to a perfect crescendo of media coverage yesterday is something no one else in the industry has demonstrated they’re able to come close to (with the possible exception of the gaming console trio of Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft XBox).
• Apple forces competitors to ante up when they raise the bet. If the tech business is a poker game, players at the table know that Apple doesn’t bluff very often. When they raise the bet, you have two choices – call or fold. Since folding isn’t a very good business strategy, competitors have to meet the challenge Apple has thrown down. Whether it’s trivial (colored computer cases) or innovative (scroll-and-click wheels on music players), the rest of the industry scrambles to follow suit best they can. Those are pretty specific examples where the act of copying Apple’s lead made no difference. Consider the iTunes-iPod ecosystem Apple created to carve out a huge share of the commercial media download market. Who else has been able to (or is even in a position to) match that raise?

You can vent all day about why you think Apple is a nice player, over-priced, evil, or whatever your particular epithet of choice might be. You’re wrong. Apple is a vital contributor to the evolution of the connected experience and they deserve credit for continually challenging the status quo. It’s what they do. They’re better at it than anyone else. And that’s why the iPhone is such a big deal.

June 28th, 2007

Oh yeah - Skype on the N800 is coming soon

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 2:20 pm

Categories: Events, Gadgetry, Hardware, Mobility

Tags: Nokia Corp., Skype Technologies S.A., Marc Orchant

Kevin C. Tofel of jkOnTheRun just reported that on his way out of the Digital Experience show in New York City today, he saw Skype running on a Nokia N800 internet tablet. According to Kevin’s report, this should be downloadable in July. I’ve been waiting for this since the N800 was launched at CES (actually a bit earlier to be honest as I had a brief chance to play with a late stage  release candidate when I spoke at a Nokia event in Finland a month earlier). This will make what is already an incredibly useful device when I’m on the go even better.

One disappointment is the news that, at least in the initial release, the N800’s built-in webcam will not be supported for Skype calls. Bummer.

Photo source: jkOnTheRun

June 17th, 2007

Dell selling Nokia phones - bad news for carriers

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 6:34 am

Categories: Gadgetry, Hardware, Mobility

Tags: Dell Computer Corp., Phone, Nokia Corp., T-Mobile, Carrier, Marc Orchant

Stefan at intomobile points to new listings on the Dell website showing unlocked Nokia handsets. This is a big deal. One of the stumbling blocks Nokia (and other high-end handset manufacturers) faces is getting distribution for these devices in the company stores operated by AT&T and T-Mobile (the two largest GSM carriers here in the US). I always treasure the look on the faces of the young people working in the local T-Mobile store when I walk in with a new unlocked Nokia handheld multimedia computer. Brief but enjoyable rock star status.

Stefan (who is now blogging at intomobile, having “retired” his Ring Nokia blog) has always been a very opinionated voice on the carrier-manufacturer symbiosis and in today’s post writes:

This is the first step towards the destruction of the operator monopoly on devices. If Dell or Nokia or anyone for that matter began educating Americans that if you are a T-Mobile or AT&T customer you can use any GSM device you want, the mobile hardware ecosystem would boom. I’m tired of asking people what phone they have and hearing “Sprint.” I’m tired of people asking me when the Nokia N95 will be available from AT&T.

We’re talking about the high end of the line here. The N95, N80, and flavors of the E61 are all listed on Dell’s site.