iPod

Jan 10 2012

New Coating Waterproofs iPhone and other Smartphones

A new coating produced by Liquipel, a company in Santa Ana, California, totally waterproofs the iphone.  The process, being displayed at CES 2012, cost $59.95 to have done, and the user must ship the iPhone to the company to have it waterproofed.  This process can be applied to any smartphone and apparently will protect the phone even if it is totally submerged in water.

For more information about Liquipel, check out their website at:

http://www.liquipel.com

By admin • Hardware, iPhone, iPod, iTouch • 0 • Tags: ,

Oct 10 2011

Handbrake: A review

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everybody.

This review will be just a quick one. I’m not an expert with this sort of thing and have only dabbled with it from time to time…

What is it?

Handbrake is simply a transcoder. It converts DVD’s to video files and video files from one format to another.

Does it work?

Yes. It does what it was designed to do quite well and actually is fairly stable in spite of having not been updated in a while.

What platforms does it run on?

It is cross-platform. It will run on Mac (Intel), Linux, and Windows. I reviewed the 32 bit Mac version.

Where can it be found?

http://handbrake.fr/

How much does it cost?

Like almost everything I review, it is free to use.

Any thoughts?

Yes. Plenty.

I rather like the interface. All the information is on the screen where I need it. It is quite intuitive. It even includes tool tips if anyone wants to know what the various settings do.

As I said, it converts DVD’s to video files as well as  video files from one format to another. I’m not sure how many formats are accepted for the source file. The output file will be one of two formats. It will be either an MP4 or MKV. There are lots of options for both.

It is possible to include subtitles with the final file. The program will look for internal or external text streams and add them to the resulting file. Through experimentation I found it is possible to add them as hard subs (as part of the video) or soft subs (the player displays them as a separate stream on the screen).

More features include optimisations for Macs and iPods.

Of all the similar tools I’ve used, it is on the slower side of things. For a 25 minute file it can take over an hour to convert.

In many countries (including Canada in a few weeks) this program is considered illegal since it bypasses the encryption of the original file in order to produce the new file.

By BlankMike • Converters, Cross Platform, Freeware, iPod, Macintosh, Microsoft, OS X, Programming, Software, Video Editing • 0 • Tags:

Oct 9 2011

A Slew of Updates this week for Apple

This week is scheduled to be one of the biggest update weeks in the history of Apple, Inc. with a slew of program and product updates coming.   On the agenda are:

  • Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2
  • iTunes 10.5
  • iOS 5
  • iCloud
  • iPhone 4S (HD Video, 8MP Camera, 64GB)
  • iPod Touch (Pricing Change, new white edition)
  • iPod Nano (Pricing change,  new built in sensors)

With all of the updates happening at once, it is easy for some of the items to get lost in the fray.  There has been a lot of talk about the iPhone 4S and iOS 5 along with iCloud but not much on the other releases.

Mac OS X 10.7 has needed an update for a while now.  Many people have been complaining rather loudly about the bugs in 10.7 and 10.7.1, hoping that Apple would hear their pleas for help.  While 10.7.2 is scheduled for a 12 October release, there are rumors on the web now that it will actually happen a bit earlier than that, along with the update for iTunes.

iOS 5 and iCloud are both expected to be released on the 12th of October as well, and will surely slow down Apple’s servers to a crawl for a few days.  All these software updates all coming simultaneously has disaster written all over it but hopefully Apple has taken into account that there will be a massive overload and increased their server capacity for such eventuality.

The new products coming just two days later on the 14th of October are just as impressive and include the iPhone 4S, a new White edition of the iPod Touch, new pricing on both the iPod Touch and the updated iPod Nano, which now includes the sensors needed to work with Athletic tracking programs, right out of the box.  These are the products that Apple is hoping will carry it into 2012 with record profits for the company.  The iPhone 4S was put up for pre-ordering and sold completely out within about 20 hours in the United States.   This does not even gauge the interest in the other countries where the product will go on sale on the 14th of October, simultaneously with the opening of sales in the US.

The coolest gadget may not even be the iPhone 4S but instead may be the fact that there is a watch band conversion for the latest version of the iPod Nano which Phil Schiller so capably used as a prop for his presentation at the October 4th event.  This makes the iPod Nano a wonderful replacement for all those Casio databases as well as the long suffering Seiko Instruments Ruputer (Known as Matsucom OnHand PC in the US) which has not been updated since early 1998.

This update by Apple is definitely one for the ages and will certainly show Apple which direction they will go after losing their leader, Steve Jobs this past week.

By billm • Apple Inc., IOS, iPhone, iPod, iPod Nano, iTouch, iTunes, New Product • 1 • Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Mar 6 2011

iPod Wrist Watch — It is here but is it usable?

Over the past few months, I have been watching and waiting for someone to take an iPod (yes the small 6th gen Nano) and turn it into a usable wristwatch.  Many of my cohorts commented on the same idea in January and February with the first articles appearing about it this past 2 weeks or so.  No it seems that everyone is jumping on the band wagon including us.

Having had a computer on my wrist since the early 1990′s with the Timex version of a Datalink watch, I guess the whole idea that James Bond had the coolest watch was just a fantasy that the movies liked to portray.  I seemed to have the watch everyone was wanting and each generation of upgrade was better.

The Datalink series had staying power with it lasting until 2010 when the entire line was canceled.  The watch was popular with Astronaut Nancy J. Currie wearing the Ironman model of the Datalink on STS-88, the next watch on my wrist also had a famous astronaut wearing it.

When Seiko Instruments brought out the Ruputer (known as the Hands On in the US), I was over joyed.  They had a 512k and 2mb model of the watch in 1997 and by early 1998, a 4mb model was also released.  Each one of these watches cost around $500 USD and was bulky but definitely useable, especially as a TV remote control.   When Japanese Astronaut Mamoru Mori (STS-47 and STS-99) wore it on his space mission I figured I had the right watch once again.  Sadly, the watch really never got out of the starting gates with only a few of the originally produced watches selling.  Luckily, I still have a number of these watches around and use them from time to time.  Sadly no one since then has gone into that realm with much gusto.

When the 6th Generation iPod Nano was released, I once again though of the size and the potential of it making a really nice watch.  Of course, the sad thing is no one at the time even really considered it.  But now there is the option to make the iPod into a Watch.

Wimo Labs TikTok

Wimo Labs TikTok

Wimo Labs, LLC (http://lunatik.com/) now has two models of iPod holding watch bands that are much better than some of the ones that have been seen around with all the technophiles had recently.   They have produced the TikTok which is a 34.95 clip in black watch holder / band and the LunaTik which is a 69.95 CNC machined Aerospace Grade Aluminum system affording the iPod some protection from the daily grind.

Wimo Labs LunaTik

Wimo Labs LunaTik

Suddenly the concept of going from 4mb to 32gb doesnt seem so far fetched and while the iPod doesnt do everything the Ruputer did in 1997, it is still a much better screen and not bad as far as the watch idea goes.  Also, having all of one’s schedule and music on the wrist makes things really each to deal with when trying to keep to a schedule to chill out with between those hard to handle meetings.

I see this as one of the must have items of the year but with the deficiencies in the iPod, I am secretly hoping for a few more features in the 7th Generation Nano. However,  the only thing it really needs is bluetooth, infra-red,  and a wireless headset to make this really cool item that much better and truly a usable item.

By billm • iPod, Watch Bands • 0 • Tags: , , , ,