eBay Bargains?

I was idly browsing through eBay (which can be dangerous) looking at iPods, and saw a new iPod Shuffle for $71, excluding shipping. Not really knowing the prices I looked elsewhere and found the new iPod Shuffle with the same 512 MB capacity for $65.99 on special at MacMall. It was also going for $69.99 at Circuit City and Best Buy.

Mobile Internet Part II

In a previous blog Mobile Internet I mentioned problems accessing certain websites with a Palm and a Wi-Fi card. I also referred to having better luck with a Linux-based Sharp Zaurus and a Wi-Fi card. Anyway, this "Handheldoholic" bought a Dell Axim X30 Pocket PC on eBay - the model which has built-in 802.11b wireless. I then did a real world test by taking it down to Atlanta with me, where we were staying in a hotel with free wireless access in the lobby. The "Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition"-based Pocket PC worked like a dream, once I had found out which of the supplied connectivity utilities to use. I did not have any problems accessing any website, including Google Mail and eBay. Being able to browse in landscape mode was great, but - a minor quibble here - Palm's implementation of portrait and landscape mode is far superior, both with ease of switching between modes and Virtual Graffiti area placement in Landscape Mode.
I can't wait to try the Beta of the Opera Web Browser on the Dell Axim.

High tech, high price

One of the things I enjoy when in South Africa is looking at the prices of electronics and software. It makes me feel a bit better about leaving the beautiful weather here and going back home to New York.

Since my renewed interest in gaming I looked at gaming hardware and software:
First I priced a Sony PSP Value Pack - the exact same one I bought brand new on eBay - 2600 South African Rand (ZAR) at a computer chain store. That is around $430 at a good exchange rate - $180 more than street price, and almost double what I paid on eBay.

Then there was a GameBoy (probably an Advance) for sale at a toy store for the equivalent of US$140, as well as a Sony Playstation 2 (I'm not sure if it was the Slim edition) for about $240, which is $90 more than I paid at NewEgg.com.

As for Sony PSP games, the cheapest I saw was "Metal Gear Acid" on sale for about $47 (normal price $65) - it normally goes for about $40 in the USA, and may drop to $30 on special. Other, more popular games like "Burnout Legends" or "Need for Speed Underground Rivals" sell for around $65 minimum.

The main reason for such huge price differences is the import duty the South African government levies on electronic goods.
Of course doing direct price comparisons like this doesn't take currency exchange rate fluctuations into account, or the relative buying power of the local currency

Different juice - technical problems

Since this is a tech blog, I won't refer to flight delays, although I have certainly had my share this week.
Instead I had electrical problems - due to an incorrect assumption.
Since my Sony NX60 handheld had a power brick which accepted the South African 220 volts without a problem, I assumed that the Tapwave Zodiac that I took with for gaming and my wife's Palm Zire 72 would be the same. They aren't - both come with power adapter plugs that only accept 110-120 volts input.
Fortunately, on a previous visit I had seen a 220 volt to 110 volt converter plug. It only cost slightly more than $10, and since we both required our handhelds for the important task of playing games we bought it.
I had initially thought of bringing my Sony PSP with, but decided that the Tapwave Zodiac would do, since I had several games for it as well as 2 pre-recorded TV shows on SecureDigital Card. Also, I left my Treo 600 behind, and brought an old unlocked GSM Motorola V60 for use with a PrePaid SIM card on one of the South African cellular networks. Ironically both the Sony PSP and the Treo would both handle 220 volts without an extra adapter.
Of course I couldn't do without a handheld computer, so I brought the Tungsten T3, for which I had just bought a travel charger for (otherwise it would require carting a cradle around just to recharge). The Zod (Tapwave Zodiac) would have been adequate, but I was concerned about "toasting" it with one of the games. I must confess that although I have had a couple of Fatal Errors from games they were only soft resets and the Zod is a pretty stable PDA.
However, I've grown to really like my Tungsten T3. With the slider closed it has a really small form factor and it has a more intelligent Virtual Graffiti area than the Zod (You cannot popup a virtual keyboard inside the Zod's Virtual Graffiti area). In fact the Virtual Graffiti and Portrait to Landscape mode is even better than that of the Dell Axim X30 Pocket PC - but that is another story. The Tungsten T3 also has the updated PIM applications (Alarms from Tasks etc.) and its screen is as good as, if not better than the Sony Clie NX60. The T3 is fast becoming my top choice to replace the handheld computer part of the Treo 600. Its main drawback is that the battery life sucks - possibly due to it being a used unit when I bought it.

Ooops!

In a previous post "Go figure" I wrote that the Handspring Visor Pro runs on 2 AAA batteries.
This is not correct. According to the Wikipedia entry for the Visor Pro, and other sources, it runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery

A Handheldaholic's nightmare!

From an article on Brighthand.com to a link in
The Inquirer: One man company fixes PDAs.

But I really do need a new one!

Mobile Internet

No, I'm not referring to mobile phones and the internet. I try to avoid paying by the kilobyte for checking email. I'm referring to accessing the internet via a Wireless access point using a handheld computer.

My experiences with my Palm handhelds were not promising:
First I tried to get status of eBay bids with Tungsten T3 and a Wi-Fi card - first couldn't get onto Google Mail, then I wasted 15 minutes trying to get onto eBay before I gave up. Using my Tapwave Zodiac and the Wi-Fi card gave me a Fatal Error - but I was running some utilities in the background, and need to try it with those switched off.

I had better luck with my Linux-based Sharp Zaurus.
I managed to get onto eBay with the Sharp Zaurus and a CF Wi-Fi card, and also managed to get onto Google Mail! The speed was also a lot faster than on the Palm Tungsten T3. The Opera browser also allowed me to have more than one window open at a time.

Go figure

Yesterday a Handspring Visor Pro with 16MB RAM, a 33 MHz processor and Palm OS version 3.5.2.H sold for $145.50 on eBay.

About three hours before that a Tapwave Zodiac 2 with 128MB RAM, a 200Mhz Processor and Palm OS version 5.2.7, sold for $130.11 on eBay.

The Handspring Visor Pro doesn't have a color screen, but a 160 by 160 pixel 4-bit (16 shades of gray) monochrome screen. It weighs 5.7 oz and runs on 2 AAA batteries.

The Zodiac 2 has a 480 x 320 (half VGA), 16-bit color backlit display (65,536 colors), and weighs 6.3 ounces. It has an ATI graphics accelerator, Yamaha sound system, Bluetooth, two SD slots, one of them an SDIO slot for Wi-Fi cards etc.

Tapwave closed it doors in July 2005 when venture capital dried up.

Handspring was bought by Palm in June 2003

The only possible reasons I can think of for someone paying more for an older handheld (released in 2001) are:
- Palm still supports the Visors (see Palm Visor Pro Support)
- There are still numerous springboard expansions modules available for the Handspring, everything from MP3 players to voice recorders to GPS devices.
- The Visor Pro runs off AAA batteries

Retro-tech

Just recently I got my hands on a HandSpring Visor Deluxe. This Palm OS handheld relic is the precursor to the Treo. I say relic, but the handheld still works - it uses AAA batteries so there is no rechargeable battery to wear out. The most interesting feature of all Handspring Visors was the springboard slot (see this article in the Wikipedia). This allowed the handheld to be expanded with peripherals like a GPS (which is why I got the Handspring), a backup module or "Memplug" memory expansion module. There is even a camera, a modem and a Wireless modem. One of the more interesting Springboard modules was the cellphone one. Slide it in and the Handheld was transformed into the first smartphone. Unfortunately the Handsprings were mainly bulky. the one which wasn't - the Visor Edge, allowed springboard modules to be attached via a sleeve. Handspring discontinued the Visor line in 2002 and brought out the first Treo. The rest, as they say, is history.

You can't make this stuff up

(but some people try anyway)

This morning on WABC New York (channel 7), after 7am and just before a weather forecast there was some segment on words of 2005. One of them was "Podcast". The meteorologist admitted she didn't know what most of the words meant. The anchorwoman of the "Eyewitness News This Morning" show said "Podcast, you know, what those Chinese people do...sing".
Michelle, you should have looked up the word on Wikipedia before trying to act like you knew what the word meant..
Wikipedia?...Oh, nevermind.

Top 10 List

I did a Top 10 list for top tech products of 2004, so here's my top 10 list of Tech products for 2005, in no particular order. Some products were also on the 2004 list, which means they (or their updated versions) still are good.
I've limited this list to products I've actually used or own - how can
I put the Sony VAIO Laptop on my top 10 list if I don't have one?):

Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable)

Mozilla Firefox 1.5 browser

Opera 8.5x browser (finally advert free)

BackupMan PalmOS Backup software

Palm(One) Treo 600 smartphone

VMWare Workstation ( nudges out Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 with its powerful features)

Google Mail - Free 2.6+ GB

Partition Magic 8 - its been around for a while and has changed ownership, but is the most powerful utility of its kind out there

Palm(One) Tungsten T3 (yes I know it's been replaced by the T5 which has been replaced by the TX, but it still rocks)

peditPro PalmOS text editor (I write a lot of my blog entries in this excellent powerful editor)

Treo things that bug me

1. Although the screen is bright the screen resolution is a paltry 160 by 160 pixels, and can only display 3375 colors
2. Processor - 144MHz, which makes it slower than the handheld I replaced. To be honest, I only really noticed this when I was trying to do that failed restore, and the list of files took ages to refresh.
3. Rounded keyboard keys. These really hurt the tips of my thumbs (especially when writing a blog entry like this). Apparently this has been fixed on the Treo 650.

The rest are minor usability issues like two Power-on keys. One is the wireless mode button, and the other is the Screen on off key - the only difference is that if you keep on pressing the wireless mode button the phone switches on. These two buttons confused the heck out my security software until they released a patch to cater for switching on the device with the screen button.
I never expected the camera to be much good, but the same resolution camera on the Motorola V600 cellphone takes better pictures.

Backup problems

I switched on my Treo yesterday morning and BackupBuddyVFS had crashed the night before night at 11:30pm. So I installed the latest version of BackupBuddyVFS and my security program crashed at 11:30pm. Uninstalled BackupBuddyVFS and nothing crashed.
Decided to switch to BackupMan for backups until have sorted out problems with BackupBuddyVFS. BackupMan costs a third of the price of BackupBuddyVFS, and although it doesn't have features like encryption or compression, its scheduling capabilities are better than BackupBuddyVFS and it works.

Costly games

When the Xbox 360 came out recently I was taken aback at the cost of games - from around $60 ($59.99). I shouldn't have been surprised, as games for the Sony PSP go for $30 (on special) to $50 for new releases. In "Brick and Mortar" stores used games are only about $5-$10 cheaper.

Some examples:
Need for Speed Underground: Rivals costs $29.99 on CircuitCity.com after $20.00 savings (but it is "not available").
The same game goes for $25 on eBay - shipping included, and in good condition.
Ridge Racer is $39.99 and is "Out of Stock" on CircuitCity.com.
Brand new on eBay it'll cost you around $37.99 including shipping. A used Ridge Racer would go for about $15 including shipping, which is a big difference. Of course with the used games there is an element of risk.

GSM Rules

Well, most of the time.
Since my posting about temporarily switching from the Treo 600 to the Motorola V600 (" Smartphone struck dumb"), I've been asked by two people if I needed to phone my cellular provider to activate my old phone. One of the advantages of GSM is the SIM card. The SIM card has the telephone number and even phonebook entries. All I did was switch the SIM card from the Treo to the Motorola and turn the Motorola on.

Treo up and running

I finally got Treo restored, but all my data is not there yet. It now appears that Treo Butler was probably not the culprit, but more likely shareware program called ToDo2.

I'm also not too happy about BackupBuddyVFS
Professional - it was not a cheap utility and the restore just didn't work properly - I may be contacting their support...

My relationship with my previously trusty Treo has soured somewhat, not helped by the fact that using a normal flip cellphone was so much easier...

To be fair

Just to be fair - the software which I blamed in my last Blog Entry as having crashed my Treo (Treo Butler) may not have been the only culprit, or may not have been responsible at all. I had loaded a shareware program called ToDo2 and a freeware program called ToDo Archive just a day or so before - any one of them (or a combination) could have been the cause.

I also complained about Treo Butler on the website where I downloaded it, and was contacted by the developer the very next day to try to resolve the problem. Unfortunately after the hard reset there is nothing left on the Treo to debug.

Smartphone struck dumb

Okay, now I've run into one of the major problems with having a handheld computer and a cellphone integrated on the same device.

Last night I upgraded a utility program - Treo Butler, to version 3.4. I have been running earlier versions since just after I got the Treo. This time a minute or so after I had run the program the phone began making a low-pitched tone and froze. The only way to stop it was a soft reset. From there this just got worse. The noise persisted, so I hard reset the Palm (like Format C: in DOS) and tried to restore from a backup. The backup software, which I has restored from before, got to a file and then just reset the Treo. So I had to check the log and restore from after the file it choked on, a painstakingly slow process. After all of this, the Treo made that continuous tone on the first dialog and froze. After a few more hard resets and attempted restores, I was close to throwing the dumb smartphone against a wall.

Fortunately my cell service is GSM, and I had my old phone handy, so I
could just switch the SIM card to the old phone (after recharging it all
night). The handheld wasn't that simple. The Tapwave Zodiac was pressed into service temporarily. Fortunately Both the Treo and the Zodiac use a SecureDigital Card, so I was able to recover some of my data onto the quick
replacement.

For now at least, I'm back to carrying two devices...

Not quite bleeding edge

Firefox 1.5 has been out of beta since November 30th, and I've only installed it today. Of course my favorite (favourite) Firefox Extension, PrefBar, has not been updated for this version yet...

What about the games?

So I mentioned the Sony PSP was an excellent gaming console but what about the games?
I have five games, three of which I play more than the others.
Need for Speed Underground Rivals is one game I didn't expect to like that much. Instead, Need for Speed is the game I play the most - probably because I have managed to win a lot of the races.
Ridge Racer, on the other, hand has beautiful graphics for the racing locations and tracks, but I have yet to win a race - starting in 12th position is a big difference from starting in fourth position in a three lap race.
Then there is Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. This is one of the most popular PSP games to date. The game content is rather amoral but the game opens an intriguing universe to explore. It is a relatively difficult game - or at least I find some of the missions rather challenging - having to try several times, and getting "Wasted" each time before completing a mission. At least you are not totally stuck, as you can go off and take part in side missions or just explore the dangerous city. My character was exploring the dock area, looking for hidden packages (collect enough hidden packages and you get additional items available to you, from guns to motorcycles). There happens to be a strike on there and some of the strikers took exception to his presence and wasted him. Next time he went down there with a baseball bat and turned the tables on the attackers...

The other two games are Namco Museum Battle Collection & Wipeout Pure.
The Museum Battle Collection is a bunch of arcade games which just don't grab me.
Wipeout Pure is a Sci-Fi racing game, but I just haven't been able to get into it.