Shola's Home Gadgets

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