Category Archive for ‘Technology’ at Poo-Poo Platter

Archive for the 'Technology' Category Page 2 of 30

messenger sucks

Published

on September 19, 2007

. 1 Comment

MSN Messenger (or Windows Live Messenger or Microsoft Messenger or whatever the hell it wants to call itself) is being sucky to me right now. When I tried to login earlier tonight, I got a system error message from Messenger that some upgrade to the network required that I change my Windows Live ID before being able to log in again. I thought it was just a weird error, so I just closed out Messenger and waited a few minutes. Tried logging in again and got the same message. Tried a different account, same thing.

So, I clicked through to the Windows Live help pages and found out how to change my Windows Live ID. It wasn’t completely clear why I would ever have to change it. It just gave me directions to do it and assured me that all of my account information would remain intact. I tried it on one of my alternate accounts to see if anything would go wrong. The ID change was simple. All of my contacts were still on my list, and my account settings were the same. However, all of my contacts were now offline, which almost never happens. There’s always at least one or two people online.

I decided to give it an hour to let the network update and went to get some dinner. When I came back, everyone was still offline. I IM’d one of my friends on another IM system to see if they could see my MSN account online, and it turned out I was gone as well, even though I was actually signed on (managed to add one of my other accounts to the list). I searched through MS’s help pages some more, and it looks like it can take up to 48 hours for the ID change to propagate through the network and into my contacts’ lists. How annoying.

I tried switching back to my original Windows Live ID to see if I could get my contact list to behave again, but the system sent me the same error message again. I finally gave up and changed the ID on my normal Messenger account. Two of my contacts finally showed up, so maybe they have to re-login to see my changes. I guess I’ll just have to wait it out and hope everything transitions smoothly.

One thing I find very interesting is that my two main Messenger accounts are both using .Mac email addresses. No one else I know ran into this issue ever, and they’re all using Hotmail or Gmail accounts. I wonder if that has anything to do with the sudden change… [/me enters conspiracy theory mode]…

dslr power in a compact? wow!

Published

Danny

on March 8, 2007

in Photography, Technology and Toys

. 1 Comment

sigma dp1

It’s not often that I get excited about new cameras coming to the market, but Sigma got my attention back during Photokina when they mentioned their upcoming DP1, and now they’ve confirmed it at PMA 2007. The DP1 has a fixed focal length 28mm lens, full manual controls, RAW image support, and — this is the kicker — a DSLR-sized image sensor. Is possible that I could get all the control and image quality of a DSLR in a compact camera? Sigma claims this is the case. There’s been no mention of a release date, so it’s anyone’s guess when the camera will be available to the masses or even when the normal review sites will get test copies.

The DP1 is a very interesting camera, because it has the potential to be the perfect compact camera for me. I shoot wide angle almost all the time, so 28mm will work perfectly for me. I like shooting with prime lenses, so the lack of optical zoom makes no difference to me (even on my 10-20mm zoom lens, I shoot at either 10mm or 20mm 99% of the time). Manual controls are a huge plus, especially manual focusing. RAW support is equally as good, because I really like having post-processing control. And, of course, the big sensor is the most attractive element of the DP1.

Assuming the price isn’t too extravagant and the image quality lives up to Sigma’s bragging, this could be the next camera to join my arsenal. It even has the potential displace my LOMO LC-A+ and Olympus XA as my primary compact carry-around camera. Heresy, I know, but film and development are expensive, and there’s nothing quite like instant feedback and post-processing flexibility.

We’ll see how this camera turns out once it’s finally released. And I really hope it isn’t too terribly expensive.

it’s thin, it’s shiny, it’s iphone!

Published

Danny

on January 9, 2007

in Technology and Toys

. 4 Comments

In case you haven’t been paying attention to tech news for the past couple of hours, this morning Apple announced it’s long-awaited and much-anticipated iPhone at Macworld San Francisco. I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been too excited about the idea of Apple making a phone. Sure, Apple has all the technology and talent to put together a kick-ass mobile product, but the main question for me was what would set it apart from the other smartphones on the market.

I’ve looked at the current crop of smartphones available through various carriers, and I haven’t been too impressed. From a functionality standpoint, all of them offer pretty much the same things — voice calls, text messaging, PIM, basic multimedia junk — but none of them have really inspired me to dump my cheap Motorola flip phone. I’ve never really liked Windows Mobile nor the whole Blackberry system, partially because I think they look like ass and partially because I’ve heard nothing but horror stories about getting data to sync on a Mac.

However, iPhone changes things completely. It’s got the functionality I would look for in a mobile device, and it appears to take things up quite a few notches. I won’t bother going down the list of features and whatnot, since I figure people are smart enough to actually look at the iPhone website. I’ll just go down a list of some of my initial reactions on some of the features and potential drawbacks of iPhone.

First, the pros:

Kick-ass UI
I’ve always loved Apple’s approach to UI design, and it looks like the best has made it to iPhone’s interface. Just looking at iPhone’s screens makes you want to use it. It’s not intimidating. The buttons and widgets are nice to look at and make sense. I feel like everything I’m used to seeing and using on a normal desktop system has made the transition to a mobile device.

Multitouch
Remember all those cool touch-screen panels and gadgets you saw in those sci-fi movies? Looks like Apple’s made the first step in making it a reality in daily life. Sure, touch-screen tech isn’t new, but Apple’s implementation is incredibly sweet. Just use your fingers to tap, double-tap, scroll, and zoom on iPhone’s 3.5″ display. No physical buttons needed to do anything (other than the Home button), and that makes more room for a huge display.

Complete suite of mobile lifestyle apps
Voice calls. Text messaging. Music and video support. Built-in camera. Web browser. Email. Widgets for weather, stocks, traffic, maps. It’s all there. These are things that I would use on-the-go and during times when I don’t want to carry a laptop.

Syncs with Macs and Windows machines
This is a huge kicker. Syncing with a Mac is a given, but allowing syncing with Windows really opens things up. That’s what made the iPod so universally popular, and I can see this making iPhone a hit as well.

Multiple wireless protocols
Quad-band GSM, EDGE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. Pick one and use it.

And now, the cons (or, rather, some questions/issues that could pop up):

Battery life
Apple quoted 5 hours of talk time and general usage and 16 hours of audio playback. How true will that be under normal circumstances? Admittedly, I don’t talk much on the phone, but I could easily see myself draining iPhone’s battery with less than a day’s worth of internet usage, music and video playback, and text messaging.

Lack of physical buttons
As cool as the multitouch tech is, sometimes it’s just easier to have physical buttons. Touch screen interfaces require you to look at the screen at all times to do anything with the device. With physical buttons, you can go by feel. Some people are going to absolutely love the multitouch interface; others are going to hate it. I’m kind of undecided right now.

Syncing process
How exactly will all the data on the phone get synced with the computer (and vice versa)? Obviously iTunes will be main syncing application, as shown in the demos, but is that the only way to do it? Don’t get me wrong, I love how iTunes works with my iPods, but it seems a bit odd to use it to manage a phone. What about using iSync on a Mac? Will that be supported for things like iCal, Address Book, and other Mac-specific apps?

Camera image quality
Apple kind of breezed past this little detail. There’s a 2 mega-pixel camera on iPhone, but what do the images look like? My gut reaction would be no better than other camera phones. There’s very little space in iPhone to cram in an image sensor, so I anticipate fairly average looking photos.

MacOS X
Yes, it’s cool that iPhone runs a most-likely trimmed down version of OS X, but I wonder how that will affect daily performance. It’s possible that iPhone could try to do too much in such a small device. It’s possible that there might be security issues with a relatively normal OS running a modified version of Safari for web browsing.

Exclusive to Cingular
I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for nearly a decade now and have never had any reason to switch networks. iPhone is exclusive to Cingular and is now tempting me to jump ship. Being a GSM phone, it’s possible that iPhone could work with T-Mobile for voice calls and SMS, but I doubt any of the internet apps would work. If they do, there will definitely be no tech support.

Cost of services
iPhone is a pretty spendy device at $599 for the 8 GB version. I wonder what type of plans and charges will come with it. Will Cingular go with its current internet plans or create a whole new one just for iPhone users? $599 + 2-year contract + month phone charges + internet service charges can add up to whole boatload of money.

iPhone won’t be available until June 2007, so hopefully some of the questions and concerns I (and probably others) have will be answered. Until then, I’m just going to ogle the pretty shiny toy I can’t touch yet.