Here is a real gadget of mine, and to prove it, I can reveal I haven't used it more than twice in 2005.

Do you know what it is, and why I've got it?

It is a Yaesu FT-817 qrp transceiver and I got it to pursue my amateur radio hobby.



The japanese are well known for their electronic products, and this gadget is a testament to the fine engineering from the country, a multi band HF, VHF and UHF radio packed with many bells and whistles in such a small package.

I hope you all have a nice Christmas, and get lots of nice gadgets and toys for presents.

I got my wife a Sandisk 1GB MP3 player, so I might give you a review if I get an opportunity to play with it.

This post is mainly aimed at those who might need to send the odd email from their Sony Ericsson K750i phone or those who want to do some moblogging. While I will give a step by step guide on setting up email on Sony Ericsson's K750i, you should be able to use the information here to figure it out for you own mobile phone.

Why would you want to send emails from you mobile phone?
Well it allows you to send more text than a SMS message and you only get charged once no matter how long the message, you can send attachments, it can be cheaper than MMS, and is idea for moblogging.



What is required?
You will need your Sony Ericsson K750i or any mobile phone that has email functionality, this doesn't have to be a Pocket PC, Smartphone, just one that has an email client, many of the lower end mobile phones currently on the market now have this. You also need a connection to a mobile phone provider that supports internet access via GSM or GPRS.

Before I show you how to configure email to work on the SE K750i, a quick introduction on how email works.

For an email to be sent successfully from one point to the other, you need the following.

An email client (software installed on a PC, mobile phone, this composes the email and hands the message to the smtp server), a network connection between the email client and a smtp server (the smtp server acts a messenger and relays the message to the email server of the recipient). You will need details of the smtp server to configure your email client, this will either be provided by your mobile phone network if they provide this service (Virgin Mobile don't), you can pay for a smtp service from a 3rd party (ISP) or if you have the knowhow provide your own smtp server. Due to the increasing problem of spam, anyone providing a smtp server will either require you to send emails to the server from their network or ask you provide a username and password before allowing you to send.

Sending Email from a Sony Ericsson K750i using Virgin Mobile Network

Once you have your phone connected to Virgin's network and can make phone calls you need to visit Virgin's phone settings website page to configure your phone.
Here you can get MMS, WAP and Enhanced WAP settings sent directly to your phone. If you have a different Sony Ericsson model, or use a different network provider, visit Sony Ericsson's phone setup page where you can get the settings sent directly to your phone. Other phone manufactures have similar facilities, so visit their website and check their support section for details of how these can be sent to your phone.
With the appropriate settings sent to your phone, make sure you press the OK button when asked if you want to install the settings on your phone.

sony ericsson k750i manual email settings

On the Sony Ericsson Phone, press the menu button, choose messaging (envelope), scroll down to email and press select.
In email scroll down to settings (quicker if you scroll up), press select, scroll to account settings, select, and add new account (you can call the name anything you like).
Select connect using, and choose Virgin WAP for standard WAP (this uses your inclusive airtime minutes) or Virgin Enhanced (this uses the GPRS network and is currently charged at 0.5p per Kb). I use standard WAP, but will use GPRS when I go aboard as the cost is still the same (0.5p per KB).
Under Protocol leave as POP3, only change to IMAP4 if you know what it means.
Incoming Server Enter here the name of the mail server from which you will be downloading your mobile mail. Since Virgin does not support mobile mail, you will have to use a 3rd party mailserver, e.g. one from your ISP. Don't use the server you use at home for normal email, unless you want to download these to your mobile phone (this could be very costly if you get a lot of email/spam or large attachments).
Incoming port Leave as 110.
Encryption Leave default non.
Mailbox Enter here the username as supplied by your ISP/Network provider.
Password As supplied with username.
Outgoing Server This is the smtp server that you will use to send outgoing mail. Due to spam issues, you will need to use either your private one or one supplied by an ISP that supports send after POP3 authentication. No other form of smtp authentication will work with the Sony Ericsson K750i, as the supplied software doesn't support (someone correct me if I'm wrong) smtp authentication. I use my own private smtp server installed at home connected to a broadband line.
Outgoing port This is normally 25, but I have changed it to a different number to prevent my private smtp server at home from being used as a spam relay.
Email Address Enter the email address you want all emails from your mobile phone to be sent from. If you want to see replies on your mobile, then this will be the address supplied by your ISP/Network provider as above (mailbox).
Download I have this set as Headers & Text since I don't get any emails sent to my mobile address. To reduce cost if you get a lot of emails on your mobile address, you can change to headers only, this will give you basic information like sender, date/time and subject.
From Name I set this to Shola Mobile, you can put any name you want.
Signature You can put here any text you want added to the bottom of all emails sent, e.g. mobile phone number, text to indicate email was sent from mobile etc.
Copy Outgoing I have this sent to off, as I'm not sure what it does (copies of sent email are still left in sent emails folder).
Check Interval I have this off, but if you need to automatically check for emails, set to the required time interval (again be careful as this could run up a bill).



Once finished, select Done. You should now have configured a data connection with the correct email settings. Press back button twice to return to the Email menu. Scroll to Write New where you can compose a test email and send. If everything works you should see the phone dial (WAP) or just connect, find the server and send the email.
If you have problems, double check the email settings, the important ones are incoming server, incoming port, mailbox, password, outgoing server, outgoing port. If the problem is you can receive but unable to send, then check out going settings, if you can send without receiving check incoming settings. If you get server not found, then either your WAP connections are not working or setup properly, or one of the settings are not correct, you can get the settings resent and try again.

I hope this information is of use to someone with their Sony Ericsson K750i, let me know if you have any problems, corrections or comments.

Update 2009: The original article is no longer available on the internet.

If you really do need a product that will allow you to connect a computer to a CRT TV for whatever reason, then you might be interested in the TV One scan converter listed below, which I currently use to connect my macbook laptop to a TV or video mixer in church (see article at the bottom of page).



Do you have a large screen Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) TV and wished you could connect your computer to it and obtain a decent picture, well have a look a the link below, I haven't tried the circuit, but it does look promising.

Reasons for connecting your computer to a large screen CRT TV include playing computer games, using your computer as a DVD player or just plain surfing the net on a huge screen.

If you have a large screen CRT TV that is far from giving up the ghost, you might try this before you shell out some money on buying a flat panel LCD or plasma screen.
The picture quality will not be the same, but the effect might just be.

You will need soldering skills or you can ask a friend to help with the soldering.

More Reading
Connect your computer to a video mixer

Remember the Sony Ericsson requirements that my new mobile phone was supposed to meet?

Well here is an update on how my Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone scores against that list.

Camera Phone- This phone has surpassed this requirement as shown by my separate Hang Gliding photos blog. For my upcoming flying adventure, most of the photos I will be taking are either going to be of the landscapes I will be flying over, people I meet or places I visit, and the camera on the SE K750i will meet those functions without a problem. I might be carrying along a second camera, but that will be in the support vehicle.

Phone - I don't have any demanding requirements here, I need to be able to make and receive calls without too much ado, and the SE K750i does that.

Calendar - I use my office outlook calendar a lot to help me keep track of my personal activities, and since I got the SE K750i, I now have a full copy of my office calendar on both my SE K750i as well as my home PC, so now I won't forget to pay an important bill because I've got a day off work.

FM radio - I'm not sure why I put this on my requirements list, as now that I have the phone, I hardly use the FM radio! It might have something to do with the fact that the reception on the radio is not very good inside buildings, and that since the headphones act as the antenna, you need to leave it hanging free to provide decent reception.

Voice Recorder - The Sony Ericsson K750i does have a voice recorder which will allow me to record notes as I undertake my adventure, but unfortunately the audio clips are not recorded in MP3 format, so I will not be able to podcast directly using these recordings. If anyone knows or has found an easy way of converting these recordings to MP3 format, please let me know, As that would really make life easy for me if I'm able to podcast directly from the SE K750i.

MP3 Player - I have used the MP3 player on the SE K750i more than I anticipated, a favourite use of mine being listening to the Bible. I'm not a sophisticated user, so can't comment on playlists, as I just have one playlist which just repeats the MP3 tracks that I listen to. If you are really interested in a phone with a better MP3 player, you could check out Sony Ericsson's W800i, or if you are an iTunes fan, Motorola's ROKR.

One added bonus for me has been the email function of the phone. I'm not a SMS addict, and thus don't like using mobile phones to send text as it takes too long to type out a decent message (at least for me it does), but my Virgin Mobile tariff includes standard wap access in my monthly free minutes bundle, so I can send pictures and a some text to my blog without incurring extra charges, thus saving me 35p for each picture message I would have sent.
By the way I was unable to get picture messaging to work with Flickr, so at the moment if you want to moblog and are on Virgin, then picture messaging will not work with Flickr, it seems Virgin's MMS to email gateway changes the way the picture is sent, and thus the picture is not recognised by Flickr. I also tried sending a MMS message to my home address, and that did not come out as well, so don't waste you money trying to send a picture or other MMS message to an email address via Virgin. MMS to other mobile phones seems to work okay though.

So in a nutshell I'm happy with my Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone.

If you are looking for some ideas on Home Automation in your home, have a look at Palm Lodge.

I got the Jabra BT130 bluetooth headset as part of the package when I bought my Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone. I didn't choose this particular model, as there wasn't an option to select a bluetooth headset model during the ordering process, so the Jabra BT130 just happened to be what I was sent.



The main reason for getting the headset was for use in the car when driving, as it is an offence to use your hands to hold a phone and talk while driving in the UK.



After opening the package, I put the Jabra BT130 on charge and had a little read of the manual, and to be honest there isn't really much to say about the headset.

With the Jabra BT130 fully charged and switched on, I enabled bluetooth on my Sony Ericsson K750i, and paired it up with the headset, the default passcode on the headset is 0000 (4 zeros), and the manual does not give any information on changing this. My K750i discovered the headset without any problems, and I chose the in-car profile for the device, and that was it. I set the bluetooth visibility of my K750i to hidden having read an article on bluejacking.

All that I needed to do now is to make a call, this I did in the normal way, and the phone then asked if I wanted to transfer to headset to which I said yes, and bingo, the headset worked.

I have used the headset for a while now, and it has been working okay, no dropped calls, the sound quality good, and when the phone rings, all I have to do is tap the headset once and the call is answered. It also has a last dialled function, which is activated by pressing the headset button for about 1-2 secs, in summary, a useful bit of kit. The Jabra BT130 has a voice dial function which I haven't used, as I haven't set up any voice dialing on my SE K750i

The only problem I have with it, is that I can't seem to get it to sit comfortably in either of my ears, not sure if this is due to my ear (nothing special about it) or the headset design.

Okay this is not a true review, but merely my opinion of the Liteon LVW-5026 and how it meets up to my requirements of a DVD/HDD recorder

I got this player as my old Samsung 709 DVD player was on its last leg of providing service, the main problem with it was freezing while playing a lot of rented DVDs. So I needed a new DVD player, but also once in a while I need to transfer a home video onto DVD, so a DVD recorder would be useful as my computer does not have a DVD writer, but more importantly I need something my wife would be able to use. The HDD was added as a last requirement to allow us to record programs from the TV, as we don't have a VCR connected to our SKY digital receiver, A HDD recorder meaning we don't have to mess about with tapes.

Having set these requirements, I had a look at various models, and settled on the Liteon, based on their proven reliability in the DVD writer world, and affordability. The Liteon LVW-5026 is a multi format DVD recorder with a 80GB hard drive, there is the Liteon LVW 5045 which has a 160GB drive for those who need more storage space.

The first thing I noted about the Liteon LVW-5026 was it took a long time to boot up. Now I've never had a DVD/HDD recorder before, so I can't say if this is normal, but compared to my old faithful Samsung 709 DVD player it was too long.

Once it is booted up, there wasn't any problems playing DVDs, all my current DVDs (not a lot I must confess) play fine, this includes my region one DVDs. I got my Liteon from SVP and it looks like it was multi-region out of the box.
Some people on the Liteon User Forum have mentioned some problems with widescreen switch when playing DVDs, but I have not had any such problems with my player.

The DVD recorder works fine, though I have only used it with DVD +R media and CDs (to produce a VCD) without any problems. The DVD interface is very basic, so don't expect to be able to create fancy DVD menus, you will need a PC for that. This is a single layer recorder, so you can expect about 2 hours of video using standard Play quality, more if you reduce the quality.

The HDD recorder is simple to use, if you want to record the current program, just press the record button once after changing to HDD mode of course, this will set the recorder to record for 30mins, so 2 presses of the record button will give 1 hour etc. Pausing live TV again is just easy, press the timeshift button once and live TV is paused, as the recorder archives the current program to disk. You can also set up timed recordings, but note the recorder CAN NOT control a satellite or freeview receiver, this is not a problem for me, as I have SKY, and the receiver has an autoview function in the personal planner, so I put the required program in the personal planner with autoview, set the Liteon to record from the scart, and it works. If you have child protection on SKY you will need to disable this if recording a rated program other wise you will have a recording of a blue screen with enter your PIN. I don't have freeview so can't advise on how to use the Liteon LVW-5026 to do timed recordings with freeview, but you can go to the Liteon Users forum where you should be able to get some help.

One thing that I've noticed with timed recordings, is that expired recordings are not automatically deleted, something that Liteon needs to address, as one would expect this from a machine of this calibre.

Apart from the 2 negative points I've mentioned, I'm pretty happy with the machine, and I'm sure I will get to love it the more I use it.

Any questions leave a comment.

I am currently trying to put together my review of the Liteon LVW-5026DV Recorder, but am suffering from writers block, so bear with me while I try to put my thoughts together. Hopefully I'll get it sorted in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, just to let you know I'm enjoying taking pictures with my Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone.

Having recently upgraded my Nokia 3330 mobile phone to a Sony Erisson 750i, I decided to take an inventory of the mobile phones in our household, both retired and active. The result is shown below.



Mobile Phone Heaven - From left to right, my wife's Motorola , my daughter's Samsung, my office Nokia, and three retired phones, 2 belonging to my wife and my beloved Nokia 3330 cell phone.

I usually recycle my old mobile phones, which is why there are no old retired phones of mine in the bunch, in fact I recently recycled a very old Nokia phone belonging to my wife which I knew she would not miss.

For more details on recycling mobile phones, visit Recycling Appeal UK.

I wonder how many old mobile phones are hiding in your cupboard, bearing in mind that those of us in the first world countries tend to replace rather than repair most of home gadgets or electronic devices. I wonder what the case is in third world countries.

With Christmas not too far round the corner, and the UK broadcasters getting ready to launch HD services, you might be thinking of getting a flat panel TV, and the usual question follows. LCD or Plasma.

Here is a link to an article that might help you make an informed decision.

LCD or Plasma TV.

If you still need some more opinions, you can visit the AV Forums where you will find people who are ready to give you advice.

Are you looking for a SIM free Sony Ericsson K750i phone or even a different SIM free phone, are happy with your current network provider, but don't qualify for a upgrade to the phone you want, and don't have the cash to pay up front for the phone, then here is an idea which you could use to spread the cost of that phone over 12 months.

Most phones, if not all phones sold by OneStopPhoneShop are SIM free, and currently due to fierce competition in the market, the majority of UK mobile phone network operators are keen to draw new customers to them, so they are offering phones free provided you sign a new contract with them for 12 months or longer.

So taking the SE K750i as an example, you could join orange OVP Vodafone Anytime 100 for 12 months at £22 a month, with 9 months half price line rental, you could get a brand new Sony Ericsson K750i all for a total of £165 ie 9x11=99 + 3x22=66!

You can not get a better deal anywhere, you also get the added bonus of 100 cross network minutes each month which you can use if your existing phone is SIM free.

A few points, first you will need to be signing with a new network provider, ie you will not be able to use the Orange tariff if you already are an orange customer, secondly you need to be discipline enough to remember to cancel the contract at the end of 12 months, thirdly most new phones are sold with free insurance deals for 3 months, make sure you either refuse this or cancel before the 3 months is up.

As the OneStopPhoneShop represents all UK network providers, you should be able to find something that suits you. They also offer a 14day returns policy on all handsets, so if the handset does not work with your SIM you can send it back, don't open the seals on the SIM packs though.

Also note Virgin Mobile is a virtual network of T-Mobile, so their SIMs are interchangeable on locked handsets, also Tesco mobile is provided by O2, so their locked handsets should also accept each others SIMs, though I haven't tried this, so if someone could confirm this, that would be cool.

As always make sure you know what contract you are getting into, and if you are not the disciplined type, this might not be for you. Also it is worth noting that a credit search is done when you apply for a new phone contract.

Here is a picture I took with my new toy the Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone.
It shows my retired Nokia 3330 phone next to the box of the K750i.

I have so far been able to synchronise my calendar and contacts on my phone with my home computer. I will be taking the Sony software and cable to my office next week, so I can get my office calendar synchronised with my phone as well, once that is complete, then the phone will have completed one of my requirements.

Also got to pair up the phone with my Jabra BT130 bluetooth headset, and used that this morning in the car, though I am still trying to get comfortable with wearing the headset. It feels a little odd, and does not sit comfortably in my ear. I have hidden my phone, so it is not visible to other bluetooth devices, so no bluejacking of my phone thank you.

While shopping this morning, I also tried the FM radio, but the reception was not too good inside buildings.

As you probably have already guessed, I'm a happy boy at the moment. More from me on this lovely phone in the future.

My new Sony Ericsson K750i phone arrived yesterday, I charged it overnight, and having been playing with it on the London Underground on the way to work. As said in my previous post, I am moving from T-Mobile to Virgin Mobile, so the phone is free, but I am tied to Virgin Mobile for 12months, at a monthly cost of £24, with 4 months half price line rental. This gives me 100mins each month, which should be okay for me, since I have another phone for work. I also got a free Bluetooth headset and car charger, so I'm pretty happy with the deal.

I got the phone from One Stop Phone Shop, and was pretty pleased to know that the phone supplied is sim free, unlocked and unbranded, so after my 12 months, I can either go to another network or get reduced line rental if I chose to stay with Virgin.

The main thing I've noticed so far about the phone is the size of the keyboard, being slightly smaller than my present phone the Nokia 3330, so I'm hoping I get used to that.

I'll give full review once I've had the phone for a while, and will let you know if it meets my requirements as specified in my earlier post.

If anyone is considering this phone, and has any questions they would like to ask about this model, then feel free to leave a comment, or Contact Me.

Today I ordered myself a new mobile phone, the Sony Ericsson K750i. I am also ending a 12 year relationship with T-Mobile, which started in 1993 with a company called One2One who were new on the market, and where offering free local calls to landlines, bearing in mind at that time they only had network coverage within selected parts inside the M25.

I have been on the same traffic since then, and my monthly bill has pretty much stayed around the same £25 mark.

My main requirements from the new phone in order of importance are:

Good quality camera for mob logging during my upcoming adventure
Phone functions
Provide calendar functions preferably with ability to synchronise with outlook
FM Radio receiver
Voice recorder
MP3 player for the occasional podcast.

I will let you know if the Sony Ericsson K750i meets up to my requirements.

It's funny how my requirements have changed, as in my Sony Walkman W800 post, I had said that phone was not for me, yet a couple of weeks later, I go for virtually the same phone.

The only reason I didn't go for the Sony Walkman W800, was because of the design colour which makes the phone stand out a mile away, and is not good for anyone who takes their personal security serious in a place like London, I don't want to be a victim of crime, mugging or pickpocket.

Since I'm not needing the MP3 player facility, the reduced storage on the Sony Ericsson K750i is not really a disadvantage for me.

I'm looking forward to receiving my new toy, and will let you know how I get on with it.

This is off topic, but as it affects me, and my freedom as a christain, I am going to give it a mention.

The UK government is currently trying to pass a bill in parliament which could potential stop christains in the UK from freely sharing their faith and the gospel as we know it today.

Full details of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill is here. I have also included some links and the bottom of this post.

The Lawyers' Christian Fellowship is leading the campaign in the UK to oppose this bill, and has orginised some events to this effect.

Now is the time for all UK christians and those who value their religious freedom to rally together and oppose this bill by lobbying their MP and expressing their oposition to this Bill. There is already adequate laws in place to deal with terrorists and religious zealots, and no need for this bill.

Links:
The Christian Post article
Cross Rhythms article
Premier Radio article

While we are on the subject of MP3 players, I was wondering if the large song database that these devices can hold via their inbuit memory, is actually of benefit rather than just a sales gimmick to get people to buy their brand of MP3 player.

A lot of the MP3 players around nowadays can hold over 1,000 songs, so tell me how many of you have 1,000 tracks on your MP3 player, how long did it take to transfer them on to your device. Now the more important question, how many of these tracks do you listen to on a regular basis, and do you honestly need to have that many songs or memory on a portable device?

I'm aware that there are accessories that can allow your Apple iPod to be connected to home stereos and stuff, but how many people really use these. Someone, once mentioned the iRiver device, now that looks more interesting, being more of a multi-media device than confined to MP3s, also you can use it as an external data storage device.

I think having an MP3 player is more of a status thing than anything else, though you do need more storage memory if your portable device has video capabilities.

Is there anyone one brave enough to go on the London Underground with there original tape walkman?

I will eventually be getting a convergence device soon, but I will probably have it to listen to podcasts, rather than music. Just over a month now till my mobile phone contract is up.

By the way i-Mate recently launched a media campaign in the UK to promote their i-Mate Jam device.

The Apple iPod Nano is in the news again, and this time it's not the hype about how good and dazzling this gadget is, rather that there is a problem with the iPod Nano.

The full Apple Statement admits there is a problem with the screen on a limited batch of the iPod Nano multimedia player device.

Apple has agreed to replace all faulty iPod Nanos.

Users in the UK should know that their consumer rights allows them to ask for a refund if the item sold is not fit for the purpose it was advertised as being able to do, so if you think you want another brand of MP3 player instead of the Apple iPod Nano, then by all means demand a refund from the store where you bought the item. If you have any problems, contact the Citizens Advise Bureau and the Local Trading Standards office, who will be able to help you..

Even if you are reading this months after you bought the Apple iPod Nano, as long as you have the receipt, you can still get a refund if you have only discovered the flaw.

While this might be a minor set back for the company, I doubt this will not in anyway affect Apple's dominance of the portable MP3 player market.

This post is a rant, and not necessarily technology related.

Recently a lot of noise was made in the cricket world about SKY corporation buying out the rights to screen all UK test matches from the England Cricket Board. The main issue was that having to subscribe to see these events would mean that a lot of people in the grassroots would longer have access to see the sport, and thus the take up of the sport would decrease, thus jeopardising England's future as a cricket nation. Not being a fan of cricket, I was not too concerned, as I don't really understand cricket, and thus don't watch.

SKY also has a major hold on the UK's premiership football screening rights, but I only follow football during the World cup, so again not a major problem for me.

However this weekend brought the issue home for me, as the inaugural stage of the A1 GP motorsport took place here in the UK, and I was unable to watch it, because I don't subscribe to SKY Sports. Now I'll either have to cough out some money or miss the who season on television relying on the papers to report the highlights. I was hoping that another TV station might even do the highlights considering that I'm an ex Formula One fan, but have become bored with the old routine of a few rich teams dictating what happens on the track.

I'm not anti SKY, it's just sometimes capitalism can be a bad idea, especially when one company holds a monopoly, and have no intent of putting more of my hard earned cash in the hands of the Murdock corporation.

Here is a picture of me 'playing' with my Sunday church gadgets, the Sony PD170 camcorder being used as a VCR, the CMX07 video mixer and some PMR radios being used for talkback.

I am in charge of the Video team at my local church, and have access to some good equipment.

Not shown is an additional Sony PD170 camcorder on a tripod used for wide shots and a Panasonic 3 CCD S-VHS camera also on tripod providing the main shot of the stage.

I will do a review of the Sony PD170 camcorder in a future post.

I usually act as the director, but can also operate either of the 2 cameras, with other team members capable of directing as well.

Hitachi SD card HD Camera

Further to my earlier post about SKY's plans to deliver selected content via 3G mobile phones, plans were also revealed on the same day that they also want to deliver content via broadband as well.

Well if SKY doesn't get your money via Satellite subscription, then there is SKY HD, that failing then maybe via SKY on Mobile phone otherwise it could be via broadband.

One way or the other SKY wants your money.

The full SKY press release is here.

SKY announced on Friday 16th sept. 2005 that they will soon be making live TV available to UK mobile phone owners.

According to the announcement, for a fixed monthly fee subscribers will be able to watch a selection of SKY's TV content live on the go via their phone.

While many might see this as a major break through for 3G mobile phone users, I see it as another ploy by SKY and the mobile phone network companies to further squeeze your hard earned cash out of your hands and into their own pockets.

Not only will you have to pay SKY, you will also need a compatible 3G phone, as well as suitable network subscription with the mobile phone company.

While there might be the odd occasion where you might want to catch up on news or a sporting event, I think most people would be able to get home to watch a programme, particularly when you have Humax FoxSat Freesat or PACE SKY+ 80GB SKY BOX WITH HARDDRIVE and TiVo TCD649080 Digital Video Recorder.

As always there will be those who just want to get the latest gadget in town whether it will be of benefit or not.

Will the 3G phone network be able to cope with the increased demand? I'm definitely sure that when you really would need such service July 7th comes to mind, the network will suffer meltdown!

Only time will tell if SKY TV on your mobile phone is just another one of those good ideas which never really takes off.

If your current mobile phone contract is up for renewal, are looking for a new mobile phone, but also want a MP3 player, then this might just be the answer.

The Sony Walkman W800 was brought to my attention by the Station Master, even though I had seen the advert on the telly, I had paid more attention to the car chase and explosions than the product.

The Walkman W800 is a Tri-Band phone, 2M Pixel camera and MP3 player with the supplied memory stick able to store 150 music tracks. Other features include a FM radio, simple organiser, message texting.

For full specification, check out the website, and make up your own mind. As for me, this isn't the one, as I don't need a MP3 player, more a PDA with phone and camera that will enable me to do some MoBlogging.

I've got a few months to make up my mind, but recommendations are welcome.

Most of you by now are aware that Apple have added a new music home gadget to their iPod range, the iPod Nano

As with all companies, Apple wants to continue to dominate the MP3 player gadgets market hence the latest addition of the iPod Nano to their range, and those who might have resisted biting the first two products now have a sexier little temptress calling for their attention in the iPod Nano.

As always I continue to remind you that there are other very capable MP3 players on the market, most of these gadgets will work with various digital download sites, while the Apple's iPods only works with itunes, meaning you are restricted to paying their higher prices for your music.

This month has also seen various new entrants into the digital download market, a big welcome to Virgin Digital andHMV Digital who launched their services in September, and you still have Stelios's EasyMusic.com and the now reformed Napster.

I must confess, that the Apple iPod Nano is a well engineered little beauty of a home gadget.

I have modified my site feed to go through Feedburner.com this change should be transparent to you, but if you do have any problems, please leave a comment, and I'll try and fix it. Thanks to all my subscribers, and I hope you continue to enjoy my rants.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I would soon be changing my Samsung 709 DVD Player, well yesterday my new DVD recorder arrived, it is a Liteon LVW-5026 DVD/HDD recorder.

The main reason I went for this model is I need to make some DVDs of video recordings I made for my local church, and the Liteon came highly recommended as a DVD recorder, I would have gone for a DVD recorder only, but since I currently don't have a means of recording programmes from my Sky Digibox, I added a little extra and went for a combined DVD/HDD Recorder, so now I can record programs onto the Hard Drive to view later, as well as create DVDs of my home movies.

I have had the time yet to go through the manual or get acquainted with this DVD recorder yet, so views will have to wait till later on.

It is almost a week since Sony officially launched the Playstation Portable games console in the UK, and I hope those of you that wanted one have been able to get one.

According to the hype pushed in the press release, demand was supposed to out strip supply.

Lucky owners of a Sony Playstation Portable can visit Your PSP website for the chance of winning a free spiderman 2 UMD movie.

I currently don't have any plans to buy one, but there have been comments on a home automation forum I visit, that there might be some use for the PSP as a home automation browser device, so I shall be checking that out.

I also came across the following PSP article, which also hinted there might be more use for the PSP than just gaming.

I'm on-call this week at work, and as I'm a member of a team that supports the email system of a large legal firm, this is a great responsibility.

As I sit on the train home, I count the number of gadgets (electronic devices) I have on me, five!

One Blackberry, One Pager, Two Mobile Phones and One SecurID token. This is not Smart Working, but I have no choice.

The Blackberry is for the team, so is the pager, one mobile phone is mine, the other belongs to my firm and the SecurID token allows me to connect to the office intranet via my home broadband connection.

Now if I really wanted to show off, I could also have taken another gadget the on call laptop and the on call mobile phone (the service desk is given a central number to call irrespective of who in the team is on call).

It looks like I'm working too hard, and should be looking at ways of using technology to ease my job! I will when I own my own company, maybe a gadgets man dream.

If you have a bit of money burning a hole in your pocket, how about building a home cinema of your own.

Check the following link for some inspiration, and don't forget the gadgets for playing the movies.

Nice Home Cinema

Here is a run down of what home automation does in my house.

1. Provide audible reminders for tasks that need to be done, this includes the children having their bath at the right time, leaving home for school on time and me leaving for work on time.

2. Audible notification of emails to the accounts of my wife and I.

3. Switch off electrical appliances in living room when home is un-occupied or we go to bed.

4. Automatically turn on lights in the hallways at night on detection of motion.

5. Provide audible weather reports in the morning before I leave for work.

6. Allow me arm chair remote control of the living room, study, hallway lights.

The following are features that I would like to add when I get the time and money.

1. Connect the heating system to my home automation.

2. Automate the lights in the kitchen.

3. Install an alarm system that also allows some control of my lights via X10, will also have telephone interface so I can be notified of events as well as use phone to control security and home appliances.

4. Interface phone to TV, so I can display caller ID on screen.

5. Install CCTV system with remote web access as well as automatic motion recording both locally and to a remote location.

6. Smart phone access to home automation and security system via GPRS network.

7. Connect home automation system to HTPC when I get one.

If you had read my accounts of home automation in my previous posts Home Automation and Home Automation II, you could be forgiven if you thought I was day dreaming, those accounts were true events that actually take place in my home, the only fictional part was the names used, which were changed to protect the identity of my family.

I currently have a X10 based home automation system controlled by a windows PC running MisterHouse.

X10 is a cheap system to implement, but more importantly it is very easy to retro fit to a house, so removes the need for expensive home redecoration or rewiring.
I chose MisterHouse home automation software because I'm a geek, and it can control almost anything with the right interface, is open source and has a large developer base which means if anything is missing, it is not long before someone will add it once a request has been made.

Home Automation is not as complex or expensive as you think, X10 and Misterhouse make it very affordable.

In my first post about home automation, I started sharing my thoughts about what images the word automating a house conjured in my mind.

In this post, I will conclude sharing those thoughts, and look at home automation in my home.

It is 12:00 noon at home, my wife who works from home is busy in the house somewhere, a voice is heard in the study and the hallway 'Grace you have 3 new email messages', the voice then goes on to read the addresses that have sent the email messages. My wife can use the information to decide if there are any urgent emails she needs to check even if she is not on the computer.

A few hours have passed, that voice again 'Grace you have 15 minutes to pick up Tina from school'.

Its 6:00pm, I'm just leaving work, back at home, that voice announces to my wife the latest emails she has in her in box.

At 7:00pm, I open the front door, as it is winter, it is already dark, I enter the hallway, the hallway light automatically comes on, with the light on the landing at the top of the stairs also coming on. I put down my briefcase, take off my shoes and crash on the couch in the leaving room.

2 minutes after I had opened the door, the lights on the landing automatically switch off, followed 3 minutes later by the hallway light.

At 8:00pm my older daughter gets a verbal reminder by that voice to have her bath before going to bed, while I ask my younger daughter to go put her pyjamas on and I take her to bed. By 9:00pm my wife and I have the house to ourselves.

At 10:40pm the voice announces 'Misterhouse is going to bed, goodnight', we decide we are having an early night too so walk up the flight of stairs but forget to switch off the study light. One hour 26 minutes after we went upstairs, a voice announces on the study PC 'all systems will go off in 4 minutes', 4 minutes later, all power is cut to the entertainment cabinet and the light we forgot to turn off goes of too.

This is home automation at its best with control by Misterhouse software.

In my last post I gave my views on the Home Theatre PC. In this post, I will continue with a few solutions for those who want to buy off the shelf, some pointers for those who would like to go the 'Do it yourself' route, and discuss my current plans for my HTPC.

In the UK there are numerous companies that provide off the shelf HTPC solutions, a google search will provide you a list from which you should be able to find one that will be able to supply a PC that should suit your taste and budget. While most off the shelf solutions will be able to supply PCs in different cases, and specifications they usually supply Windows Media Centre as the operating system/software for HTPC operations.

There is nothing wrong with Windows Media Centre, and for the majority of people it is more than enough for their needs. There are two flaws with MCE as far as I'm concerned, it is limited when it comes to customising it to one's individual use, and currently it only supports 2 TV cards and these have to the same platform (i.e. 2 digital or 2 analogue), you can not thus combine Freeview TV with your SKY digibox. If you are interested in using an alternative software solution check with the supplier, as some do install alternative media software, with a least one offering Linux as the operating system.

If you want to go down the DIY route, visit Quiet PC for articles and components that would help reduce computer noise as you want your HTPC to not only be pleasing to the eye but also silent and non distracting in the living room.
There are many barebones PC manufacturers to choose from, Shuttle, ASUS, with the remaining components available from the normal PC component outlets. For operating systems, the usual choice is between Linux and Windows XP, both having proved to be very stable. For a list of HTPC components including software, click here.

For my system I have decided to use a Pundit-R barebones PC, operating system will be Windows XP and my software of choice is Media Portal.



I'm currently evaluating this on my home PC, and will give my impressions in a future post, you can also look forward to some posts when I start my HTPC build.

I'm thinking of getting a Home Theatre PC to replace my home entertainment equipment in the living room. A few years ago if you mentioned having a PC in the living room, you would not only be called a geek, but you would be asking for trouble from your spouse. A lot of things have changed, and now even though not very common it is becoming acceptable to have PCs in the living room.

So why use a HTPC to replace the normal entertainment equipment in the living room. With the advent of the digital revolution, it now makes sense to have everything in one place Music, DVD, TV, Pictures, Internet News, Weather Info, the list could go on. If enough storage is built into the system, you could get rid of those disgusting CD/DVD racks and have arm chair access to your whole Music/Film collection, flick easily between live TV and the internet checking the latest travel info or watch a slideshow of photos from your last holiday while listening to some cool jazz.

There are two main requirements for a HTPC.

The first being suitable hardware that wouldn't look out of place in the living room.
The second is a robust operating system running the necessary software to emulate all the devices that it would be replacing.

For non-technical end users, the easiest approach is usually to buy an off the shelf HTPC, these are available for a high premium, and can be tailored to your own specifications.

If however you are computer savvy and don't mind getting your hands dirty, then you can buy all the parts individually and build a system totally tailored to your specifications and at a much more modest price.

In my next post, I'll talk about some hardware/software solutions and what I'm planning to build for my system.

What images do the words Home Automation conjure in your mind? A home filled with robots and talking computers or even something more sinister?

For me it looks like this:

I'm in bed enjoying a snooze and hear a female voice in the corridor announce 'Good Morning people, rise and shine this is the day the lord has made', I roll out of bed, glance at the bedside radio clock the time is 07:45am exactly. I walk down a flight of stairs wake up my children who always ignore the wake up call. As my children walk down the second flight of stairs, they hear a click in the living room as power automatically is switched on to the entertainment cabinet by misterhouse, another click in the dinning area confirms the TV and Video in that area are switched having been off through out the night (why waste electricity powering those appliances in standby mode while we sleep?).

I have a shower (we do that in the morning right?), get dressed and go down to the dining room where I make sure the kids finish off their breakfast and get ready for school.

I grab a breakfast bar or toast and some juice and make my packed sandwiches for lunch, an automated voice in the entrance hall announces 'Please standby for the weather report', the voice then continues to read the weather, no need for a coat today, its going to be 28 degrees Celsius and dry, I glance at the clock on the wall in the kitchen, it's 08:30am.

I check on my younger daughter who I have to take to school, get her dressed, meanwhile in the hall that voice again 'Angela time to leave for school' that is the first warning for my older daughter who goes to school by herself to finish off whatever she is doing and leave for school, my wrist watch shows the time as 08:45.

Tina my younger daughter walks down the stairs, I'm putting my lunch box in my briefcase, 'Attention Please', Angela zooms past me, the front door slams shut, 'Angela leave for school now!, Tina you have to go to school too come on!', Tina was miming the last words as I grab her hand say good bye to my wife and walk out the front door, the time is 08:50 am.

Home Automation 2 coming soon!

In my Flat Panel TV post I mentioned SKY's HD service, well it seems that the BBC is teaming up with SKY to provide a HD service according to an article in The Times newspaper.

The article goes on to suggest SKY is gearing up for a major marketing campaign to promote this service and increase its share of the UK Digital TV market.

Well as I said in my earlier post, a point re-iterated by The Times article there will be a limited HD program content initially, but more importantly not all those who have already bought a Flat Panel TV will be able to benefit from the service, so when those Adverts start rolling, think twice before you commit yourself to a high definition service that you can't fully enjoy or don't have enough programmes on.

I mentioned in my samsung DVD player that I'm thinking of getting a Flat Panel TV to which I intend connecting a Home Theatre PC.

So while I save my 50 cent up for the purchase, I thought I'd share my thoughts about what technology I'm going for. If you want to make your own decision or want to see the LCD vs Plasma debate, then there is plenty of information on the internet.

I'm going for a LCD Flat Panel TV for the following reasons:

LCD uses much less electricity and runs cooler (we should take care of our planet).

LCD TVs are lighter and thus easier to handle and less fragile.

LCD technology has virtually caught up with Plasma in terms of picture quality, and while Plasma provides a much smoother picture for fast moving action (eg sports), LCD technology is not far behind and products from some of the major brands are very good.

The screen size I require is only available for Flat Panel LCD TVs.

Having said that, all I now need is the money, and a 32" LCD TV will be replacing my old 28" widescreen CRT TV.

I haven't got an exact model in mind yet (specifications change frequently), and by the time I'm ready, there might be something better or more affordable on the market.

What do I expect from a LCD TV?

It has to be HD capable, so screen resolution of 1366 x 768 or better.

Have both VGA and DVI connectors. HDMI, is not important for me (at this moment), as I don't intend lining SKY's pocket with my money for their HD service.

It must support RGB over Scart for best picture quality from my SKY digibox.

More Reading
AVForums

Have you ever thought how dependent we are on technology at home? Recently our DECT phone became faulty, and we had to plug in a corded phone to receive and make calls. Quite a few calls went un-answered because we were either too lazy to pickup the phone or we did not want to be tied down to the phone point as the ability to roam and talk was not available on the corded phone, something we never had to worry about with our DECT phone.

In digital cameras, I mentioned the fact that almost all home technology is now digital, and the humble telephone has not escaped either. Gone are the days when it took over a minute for a call to be made (remember those phones with the dials, the clicking on the line as the analogue relays on the phone exchanges switched the call?), now with a press of a button, a couple of tones and the phone is ringing at the other end, all thanks to the DECT phone.

So why get a DECT phone?

Quality of calls are excellent, just as good as a corded phone.

Digital technology used on DECT phones means your calls are secure and can not be intercepted by the local radio enthusiast as used to be the case with the analogue cordless phones.

The ability to use multiple handsets means you can transfer calls between DECT handsets as well as make internal calls between handsets, very useful if you live in a multi-level house as you can answer the phone, find out the call is not for you, put the caller on hold and transfer to your teenage daughter's room or call your spouse in the kitchen from the study and whisper sweet nothings into her ear while your son chats to his friend next door using the external line.

Most DECT phones on the current market have LCD displays and thus can display Caller ID if enabled on your line by your phone provider, allowing you to check who is calling before answering and if appropriate you can greet them with 'Hello Dave'.

Note: From 1st July 2005 CallerID is free to BT customers who make at least one call a month through them if you join the BT Privacy program. If you currently pay for CallerID as a BT customer, call them up and change over, as they don't switch you automatically.

Links
Something to do with a DECT phone.

Apple revolutionised the portable MP3 player industry with the introduction of the Ipod, and today the majority of the people I see listening to music while on the London Underground are using an MP3 player of some sort, with the Ipod being in the majority.

While most mp3 players are probably used to listen to music, a trend that seems to be gaining momentum on the internet at the moment is Podcasting. Due to the large storage capacity of a MP3 player, this could be a very useful tool in distance learning, where lectures can be podcast, and the subscriber downloads them as they become available and listens to them in their own time. The most popular use of podcasts at the moment seems to be audio blogs and individual radio shows,has even been a podcast from space.

I currently don't have a MP3 player as I don't like the thought of isolating myself while travelling on public transport, something I've never been comfortable with long before the London Bombings, however if I do get one, it would probably be used as a portable mass storage device rather than a music player.

If you are thinking of get a MP3 player, then do shop around, and also remember Apple iPods are not the only MP3 player around, other consumer electronic manufactures have their own gadgets as well.

One point that also needs to be noted is that you need a PC to download music to your MP3, so if you are buying it as present, make sure the recipient has a PC or access to one.

Links

Dixons one of the UK's largest retailers of home consumer products/gadgets today announced they will no longer stock 35mm cameras as they now wanted to concentrate on Digital Cameras only.

This further shows that the Digital gadgets revolution has almost conquered the average UK home.

First it was the CD, now it includes the DVD and MP3 player, Digital camera, camcorder, TV and Radio and the humble telephone. While Dixons have already stopped selling VCRs, it will still be a few years before they totally disappear from the scene, and the same can be said for the 35mm camera, as it still has its own advocates who still swear by celluloid or film.


The end of an era for film cameras? 35mm and APS cameras, digital gadgets reign!

The Hitachi Digital HD Camcorder

Samsung DVD Player

My first and current DVD player is the Samsung 709 DVD Player.

I've had this player since January 2000, not long after it was introduced into the UK market, marking the beginning of affordable DVD players for the consumer. If I can remember right, it was one of the cheapest samsung DVD players on the market at the time, but had features that rivaled the likes of Sony, Toshiba and other leading brands.

One of the reasons for the popularity of this samsung DVD player in the UK was the ease with which it could be made multi-region using an AIWA remote, so popular was this player that a website totally dedicated to it was born. More info about this player can be found at

http://www.709online.com/709faq.htm

This DVD player is now getting old, and seems to be having problems coping with the latest generation (2005) DVD discs out on the market, so a replacement is due. I have however not made up my mind as to whether I should get a new samsung DVD Player or build a HTPC. The main issue being I don't have a LCD or Plasma TV yet!

I think I will keep my Samsung 709 DVD player for the moment, probably as a second player, it might turn out to be a collector's item in the future.

Gadgets Blogs Listings and Links

Here are some links to other gadgets blogs, if you know of any that should be added, please let me know by adding a comment.

Engadget Technology Blog
liewcf.com Tech Gadgets Blog
CNET's Technology Blog

My Gadgets Blog

My name is Shola, and this gadgets blog is just a place for me to talk about home electronics or technology.

I'm not a gadget geek contrary to my blog title, in fact I'm usually a late technology adopter, and don't buy a product or gadget just because it is cool and is the latest craze, but because it is useful to me.

My intention is to try to look at devices or technology and talk about how it is useful or improves one's comfort level at home.

I studied electronics, but currently work with computers.

I hope you find the articles or post of use, and feedback via the comments section is always welcome, and now lets go and look for some devices to review for this gadgets blog, Shola.