PlasmaBlog

Tellytubby Land

Picture 1.png A few years back when my kids had less attitude and hadn’t perfected the art of sarcasm they frequently subjected me to many hours of Tellytubbies. My personal favorite was Noo-Noo, but that’s besides the point.

I came across this article on GoogleSightseeing.com; a great Web site that publishes the co-ordinates of points of interest on Google Earth. I always thought that The Teletubbies was filmed in a BBC studio somewhere but apparently not!

View Teletubby Land from space here.

Add comment February 21, 2008

Merlins Time & Attention Talk

One of the highlights of Macworld 2008 for me was attending Merlin Mann’s presentation on ‘Time & Attention‘. The session was originally labelled ‘Living With Data’ so many attendees were surprised not to be learning about backing up their files etc. It is a testament to Merlin’s presentation skills and his obvious passion for the subject that no-one left halfway through the misleadingly billed session. And I spoke to many people afterwards who were fascinated and downright inspired by Merlins talk. As was I.

The audio and slides for Merlins ‘Time & Attention’ presentation can be watched online at 43folders.com

Add comment February 15, 2008

Macbook Air Review Roundup

The diminutive Macbook Air must be Apples most controversial product in years. Designing a subnotebook is an exercise in compromise. By it’s very nature, certain features must be left out or cut back to achieve the compact form factor that subnotebook users demand. Each persons opinion of the Macbook Air is determined by whether the compromise in features outweigh the benefits of the machines physical attributes. Still undecided? Here is a roundup of early Macbook Air reviews…

Ars Technica (in my opinion the definative review site)

Macworld (an epic review by Jason Snell)

MacNN - Initial impressions

Engadget (a balanced review by Ryan Block)

Gizmodo - disassembly (self explanatory)

Gizmodo - review

PC Mag

Crave

CNET

Wall Street Journal (a suprisingly critical review from Walt Mossberg who is considered by many to be biased towards Apple)

Newsweek (an early review by the author of the fantastic iPod book ‘The Perfect Thing’)

USA Today

Gearlog - unboxing

NotebookReview.com (good review with video)

Add comment February 5, 2008

Ultimate Ears Super.fi 4vi For iPhone Review

My favorite gadget? Easy. My iPhone. It goes everywhere with me. Sure it has faults but compared to every other cellphone on the market it kicks butt. But while the iPhone has lived up to my expectations, the earbuds that ship with it haven’t. I guess I could be considered a headphone snob. I have owned many models over the years, sinking more money that I care to admit into finding the perfect set. However, my problem with the iPhone stock earbuds isn’t all about acoustics. The iPhone has been on sale in the UK for about three months and I have already broken four sets of the white earphones. I confess that two sets were wrecked by my own stupidity (and with a little assistance from my washing machine). However, the remaining two pairs have both failed me in general use, developing loose connections in the small inline microphone/switch. The last time this happened was about 3 miles into a 16 mile walk leaving me without music for the remaining 13 miles. Very frustrating. A visit to the Apple Store was in order.

Now I am not particularly familiar with the run-of-the-mill Apple Store but the selection of iPod/iPhone cases and earphones on display at the San Francsico store on Stockton is bewildering. I spent nearly an hour browsing and scratching my head. I wanted good sound quality but without loosing the ability to take calls using the inline mic. This reduced the number of suitable headsets to a few, one of which was the Ultimate Ears Super-fi 4vi.

The Ultimate Ears are ‘in-ear’ buds meaning they are actually inserted into your ear canal, blocking the majority of external sound. When inserted for the first time I would liken the experience to being underwater. Once a good seal is achieved virtually no mid to high frequency sound from the outside world can be heard. Lower frequencies are a little more difficult to block out. In fact the first few hours wearing this type of earphone can be a little disconcerting. With your ears effectively blocked off from the outside world all thats left if the sound of your own heartbeat and the occasional rumble caused by the headphone cord rubbing on your clothes. But fear not. Once you hit the play button the eerie effect of being underwater receeds and great sounding music comes to the forefront.

The best way to describe the sound quality is as ‘natural’. There is nice balance of highs, midtones and low frequencies. I have worn these for many hours at a time and have suffered none of the listening fatigue I experienced with other earbuds that try to emphasize the bass. While bass lovers may feel these buds need a little more thump, if you like your music to sound realistic and natural these are the iPhone buds for you.

I already own a (very expensive) set of Shure E5c in-ear buds and while these deliver a wider frequency range, the Utimate Ears come very close to being my preferred earphones of choice for a few reasons.

Firstly the Ultimate ears are far more comfortable to wear for long periods of time. In comparison, the Shures rely on a design that loops the cable back over the ears and down the back of the neck. I find that after prolonged use the cable tends to rub the top of my ears, making them sore. In contrast the Ultimate Ears are more conventional with the cable dropping down in front of the listener.

Secondly, the Shures use a very thick and quite rigid cable. This tends to result in more transmission of rogue low frequencies to the ears, caused by the cable rubbing on the listeners clothes. The Ultimate Ears buds use a thinner, softer cable and while the problem is not eliminated it is much reduced.

Thirdly, the Shures ‘cable wrapped over the ear’ design makes the earbuds non-trivial to insert and remove. With practice this becomes easier but remember, whilst wearing, it is impossible to have a meaningful conversation with someone, or to hear traffic when outside. It can be a real pain in the ass to be constantly inserting and removing the Shures. The Ultimate Ears fare much better. While still preventing interaction with the outside world, it is much easier to pop an earbud out and then back in when required.

Being designed specifically for the iPhone, the Ultimate Ears also sport and intergrated mic and switch, enabling the wearer to accept, participate in, and end phone calls without having to remove the buds from their ears. However, this is where the Ultimate Ears stumble.

Firstly, while the microphone sounds great to the caller at the other end of the line, the inability to properly hear ones own voice makes for an unsettling experience. I would like to say I have gotten used to it, but in reality I find myself removing an earbud, unplugging the headphones and holding the iPhone up to my ear. This maybe something others have less of an issue with but I don’t see myself making many phone calls using the inline mic in the future.

My second grumble is about the inline switch used to accept and end calls (as well as to stop and start music and to move forward one track). When new it is very difficult to press and does not provide much tactile feedback. While I was able to execute a single click (used to accept and end calls) it was damn near impossible to perform a double click (used to advance one track when listening to music). However, I am happy to say that This has gotten better with time. With repeated use the switch becomes less stiff and gives a more defined click when pressed. I still feel the Apple stock earbuds outshine the Ultimate Ears in this department but I am learning to live with it.

Lastly I wanted to touch upon the aesthetics. The drivers are enclosed in a solid lump of aluminum. They feel solid and look great. The cord and inline mic are black. Of course, colour is a matter of personal preference. There are those who prefer black to the obligatory Apple white. Unfortunately for me, I am not one of them. I am a proud Apple follower and have always liked the fact that I can be identified as an Apple user by the white cables dangling from my ears. I guess this goes back to the first generation 5GB iPod I bought shortly after its launch. Back then iPods were a Mac-only product. Coupled with the price this made them a rarity. Owning an iPod back then was akin to being a member of an exclusive club. I guess those days are gone but, to me at least, white signifies cool, black signifies Sony. I would have preferred the Ultimate Ears to have a white cord but it’s not a deal breaker.

So there you have it. The Ultimate Ears Super-fi 4vi earbuds. Retailing at $149 they are obviously more expensive than the stock Apple earbuds. However I believe you get what you pay for. The Ultimate Ears are by no means perfect but if you care about sound quality and durability they make a great replacement for the standard iPhone buds.

3 comments February 3, 2008

A Long Walk

In previous years I have flown into San Francisco the evening before Macworld begins and then suffered badly at the hands of jet lag for the whole week. This year I decided to fly out four days earlier so I had some time to adjust before Macworld started. This left me with some free time to explore San Francisco. On the Sunday morning, my Nikon D70s and I took a 16 mlle walk from the hotel on Union Square, to the top of Nob Hill, down to the waterfront and along the beach of Chrissy Fields to the Golden Gate bridge (and back again).

I have uploaded some photos from the walk to Flickr.

Add comment February 2, 2008

O2 iPhone Users Rejoice!

O2 have today announced that it is revamping the cost of it’s monthly tariffs for iPhone users. Effective 1st Feb for new customers and by mid-March for existing customers, the new deal will give up to three times as many free calls and text messages for the same monthly fee. All existing iPhone users will be migrated to the new plans automatically.

I am sure many will read between the lines and see this as a “desperate pitch” by O2 to bolster the sales of iPhones. Do I care? Hell no. I just got an extra 600 minutes of talk time per month for free.

Details on the new tariffs can be found at the O2 site.

Add comment January 29, 2008

And You Thought Your Video Recorder Was Difficult To Operate?

Plowing through my RSS feeds this morning I can across this 360 degree panorama of a brand new Airbus A380 cockpit. Don’t forget to use the zoom button to check out what all of those buttons and VDU’s do. And is that hatch behind the copilots seat really stuck down with red gaffer tape?

Check it out here.

Add comment January 29, 2008

T-Mobile Hotspot Woes

Being a geek I tend to travel with more gadgets than clothes. The first two items I grab are my Macbook Pro and my iPhone. I then proceed to pack the many cables and power bricks required to keep me online for the duration of my trip. Booking a hotel with complimentary wifi is high on my list of priorities. However, for a number of reasons I left booking my trip to Macworld a little late this year. The penalty for this was a severe lack of choice when it came to hotels. In the end I opted for the Grand Hyatt on Union Square which advertised paid wifi access through T-Mobile hotspots.

Big mistake. The first thing I like to do when my 16 hour trip is over is to drop in on the family via video iChat to let them know I arrived safely (and to baffle my kids with the fact it is still daylight where I am but dark where they are). After handing over my credit card details to T-Mobile I was sent a password. It didn’t work. So I called them and following a 20 minute wait on hold the support rep ironed out the problem. Great. I’m online. Now for that video chat.

Nope. No can do. Several of the obligatary ports are blocked (which is apparently T-Mobile policy). A text chat will have to do. By this point I can feel the jetlag kicking in. Its only 4pm but my body thinks it’s midnight. So I grab my coat and my iPhone and decide to grab some lunch. Scared witless by the many stories of four digit phone bills I decide to sync my mail using the wifi hotspot before leaving the hotel rather than suffer the absurdity of roaming data charges. My iPhones browser asks for the T-Mobile password. It fails. So I make another call to T-Mobile support. This time I am told that only one device can be used with my hotspot account and the MAC address of my laptop has been recorded. i must pay another $9.99 a day if I wish to use my iPhone too.

Now I am seriously pissed off and I ponder the situation over Burger King Whopper that makes the UK version look like a hamburger happy meal. Following my waddle back to the hotel I rummage through my collection of cables and dongles and pull out an Airport Express and ethernet cable, boot up my Macbook and turn on ‘internet sharing’. Following a little configuration I manage to set up a wireless hotspot of my own broadcasting an SSID of ‘Free T-Mobile Wifi’. With jetlag now taking control I hit the sack, sleeping well in the knowledge that half of The Hyatts residents are making good use of my $9.99 per day T-Mobile access. zzzzzz.

1 comment January 28, 2008

A Complete Macworld Day Compressed Into 2 Minutes

Andy Ihnatko shot 600 photos on the opening day of Macworld 2008 and squeezed them all into a 2 minute long video. For Macworld attendees the result is nostalgic trip back to 15th January. And for those that didn’t attend the result is fascinating nevertheless.

Watch Andy’s video on YouTube.

Add comment January 28, 2008

Transamerica Tower Desktop Wallpaper

I have uploaded a new widescreen wallpaper to PlasmaDesign.co.uk. This photo was taken on the corner of Montgomery Street and Clay Street at about 2pm. I was blessed for the duration of my week long trip with fantastic weather (especially for January!). Lots of my past work can also be downloaded for use as desktop wallpaper.