*This is a question that a lot of people ask. While it might seem like a dumb question to a lot of advanced users, not everyone is familiar with how the digital audio technology works, and to fuel that fire the resellers and manufacturers often list an approximate number of songs for various players- with very small footnotes clarifying the specs of the files used. While technically accurate, it’s still a fair bit misleading as the people who would ask for the number of songs instead of capacity in the first place are those that won’t know what bitrate or any of that stuff is. Read on to get a quick introduction to MP3 player capacity.
Digital storage 101
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Gadgets for the Holidays
As a gadget lover, i struggle with the problem every christmas. People ask me what I want, and its very hard to tell them exactly what to buy me for a few reasons.
- Gadgets can be expensive, and I don't expect people to buy me expensive stuff
- The gadgets I love and want can be very specific, and its just hard to expect a non-gadget lover to buy the correct thing for me. I end up just asking for a gift certificate.
- Finding good gadgets is hard.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Next Generation iPhone
Recently my wife and I have been phone shopping. She is ready for a new phone, and the fine folks at AT&T are willing to renew her 2 year commitment and give us a deal on a phone. Aren't they giving this fine holiday season?
So, we're checkin out all the cool nifty phones they got at the store and my wife turns to me and asks, "what do you think I should get" My obvious answer, despite the costs involved was the iPhone. I have an iPhone and I love it, so of course as the loving husband I am I want my wife to have the same loving experience with her phone as I do. However; she turns to me and says, "I don't want an iPhone ill never use all the functionality of it, and its just not worth the cost."
As it turns out, just because I love gadgets, it doesn't mean my wife has the same passion. So, we kept looking at other phones and she picked one she liked. I told her as soon as we save enough pennies I would buy it for her. And she was happy, but I was left wanting a little more...
So, we're checkin out all the cool nifty phones they got at the store and my wife turns to me and asks, "what do you think I should get" My obvious answer, despite the costs involved was the iPhone. I have an iPhone and I love it, so of course as the loving husband I am I want my wife to have the same loving experience with her phone as I do. However; she turns to me and says, "I don't want an iPhone ill never use all the functionality of it, and its just not worth the cost."
As it turns out, just because I love gadgets, it doesn't mean my wife has the same passion. So, we kept looking at other phones and she picked one she liked. I told her as soon as we save enough pennies I would buy it for her. And she was happy, but I was left wanting a little more...
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
My favorite iPhone Apps
I am a regular guy, with a major love for gadgets and electronic what-nots. But I would not say that I am an extremest in this hobby. Now, I love my iPhone, I use it for as much as I can, but I don't go crazy. So, this is my list of iphone Apps for regular people, for everyday type of stuff. Its all pretty vanilla, but I think every iphone owner should have these apps. That being said, I make it a rule not to purchase any apps, all my app recomendations are free. Anything that needs to be paid for is for those extremests.
- Woot - This app connects me to woot so that I can see the daily deal. A must have for bargain gadget shoppers. You can find all kinds of stuff at woot.com but there are lots of computers, mp3 players, ipod/iphone accessories etc.
- Pandora radio - Free costomizable radio. Because of this app I no longer carry my entire music library with me at all times. This is a huge money saver, because I don't feel the need to buy a new iphone with larger storage.
Pocket Tanks - Most times I wouldn't recommend a game as a must have. But every iPhone needs a game. Because all of us get stuck everyonce in a while being board. This game is fun and easy, but always challenging.- Sportacular - You want to know the score to a game of just about any major sport? You need sportacular. I know espn and others have the same app, but I am very please with sportacular, and it has push notification now, so I can choose when I want it to notify me of my favorite teams scores. Go Utah Jazz!
- PhoneFlicks - As an avid user of netflix this just makes scense. This app allows me to view, add, change, or delete movies from my netflix Que. A must for someone who has a difficult time remembering titles of movies. When I think of a movie, or am given a recomendation from a friend I am able to add it to my que right then and there. Perfect.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
1080p and 120hz
Have you recenlty purchased, or watched a new HD image on a 1080p 120hz television? It looks so real its fake, right?
There are some super technical answers to this question involving recorded frame rates, play black frame rates, etc.
Its true, this high motion high deffinition stuff is really, really realistic. And you don't like it! Well I hope to help you understand whats going on, just a little bit.
Movies are shot on film or digitally, but they use a special setting on thier camera to capture frames 24 times per second. The number 24, remember that...
Generally tv shows and other broadcast contect are captured with cameras at a frame rate of 30 times per second.
Your new tv is producing these frames equally, so thats why you see a difference between your way too real movies, and your awesome HDTV content. Sports and other high motion video benits greatly from this new 120hz option, our HD movies today do not. It allows us to see in such great detail that it ruins it a little bit. I am betting this will change in hollywood as time goes on. I have found a couple of really neet "internet discussions" that reveal a lot of light on this subject, so if you are still confused and want more info I gladly give you these two nuggets of info: HD Ruins Movies and 120hz explained.
Hd Ruins movies is a lengthy discusion but there are some really good posts, and 120hz explained is good raw information.
There are some super technical answers to this question involving recorded frame rates, play black frame rates, etc.
Its true, this high motion high deffinition stuff is really, really realistic. And you don't like it! Well I hope to help you understand whats going on, just a little bit.
Movies are shot on film or digitally, but they use a special setting on thier camera to capture frames 24 times per second. The number 24, remember that...
Generally tv shows and other broadcast contect are captured with cameras at a frame rate of 30 times per second.
Your new tv is producing these frames equally, so thats why you see a difference between your way too real movies, and your awesome HDTV content. Sports and other high motion video benits greatly from this new 120hz option, our HD movies today do not. It allows us to see in such great detail that it ruins it a little bit. I am betting this will change in hollywood as time goes on. I have found a couple of really neet "internet discussions" that reveal a lot of light on this subject, so if you are still confused and want more info I gladly give you these two nuggets of info: HD Ruins Movies and 120hz explained.
Hd Ruins movies is a lengthy discusion but there are some really good posts, and 120hz explained is good raw information.
HDMI, the truth!
Recently I have been asked this question a lot. And because I am passionate about gadgets I feel I should share the answer.
The question: "Is there a difference in between cheap HDMI cables on ebay, and the expensive ones at the big box stores?"
The answer: There is absolutely no difference, I GUARANTEE it. (and I usually don't guarantee anything)
I was absolutly flabbergasted recently when I asked this question to a sales man at a local electronics store. He flat out lied to my face about the reason some cables are cheaper than others. I didn't even ask about the "cheap" ones on ebay. I could see it in his eyes that he knew he was lying, and Im sure after he was done he knew I knew he was lying.
First of all what is HDMI? HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data.
English you say? is a cable that transfers Audio and Video in the same cable, digitally.
All the cables in the typical home theater system can be the cheapest ones available, with zero loss in image or sound quality. In audio, if a cable does affect the signal, it does so at frequencies inaudible to the human ear (and even then, it has to be of some kind of unusual construction, or very very very long.) The same is true of ordinary video. It is true that certain kinds of connections are superior to others (component video is superior to S-video, which is superior to composite, etc.) But the reason for that has nothing to do with the particular cable you are using.
The only reason you should choose an analog cable over another is your preference in its construction. Is it solid built? will it fall apart?
Further, HDMI cable carries digital signals. Analog signals always degrade in a cable, but it is generaly always imperceptible, and are often unmeasurable. But digital signals can theoretically be transmitted with no degradation AT ALL. None. (And even when there is signal degradation, buffering and error correction can fill in the holes perfectly. The HDMI spec doesn't include error correction, but why should it? The distance is 50 feet max, and is usually less than 3 feet.)
So if you are asking yourself which HDMI cable to buy, remember digital is digital, it is either there or it is not. You do not get signal dedrigation from the cable, if you are experiencing problems, you should probably look at the equipment your are using, rather than the cable.
A more expensive HDMI cable in the big box stores gives you a fancier colorful package, often with more words on it. It also puts more money in the store's registers. That is all.
Update: Check out this post on Engadget, this is exactly what im talking about.
The question: "Is there a difference in between cheap HDMI cables on ebay, and the expensive ones at the big box stores?"
The answer: There is absolutely no difference, I GUARANTEE it. (and I usually don't guarantee anything)
I was absolutly flabbergasted recently when I asked this question to a sales man at a local electronics store. He flat out lied to my face about the reason some cables are cheaper than others. I didn't even ask about the "cheap" ones on ebay. I could see it in his eyes that he knew he was lying, and Im sure after he was done he knew I knew he was lying.
First of all what is HDMI? HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data.
English you say? is a cable that transfers Audio and Video in the same cable, digitally.
All the cables in the typical home theater system can be the cheapest ones available, with zero loss in image or sound quality. In audio, if a cable does affect the signal, it does so at frequencies inaudible to the human ear (and even then, it has to be of some kind of unusual construction, or very very very long.) The same is true of ordinary video. It is true that certain kinds of connections are superior to others (component video is superior to S-video, which is superior to composite, etc.) But the reason for that has nothing to do with the particular cable you are using.
The only reason you should choose an analog cable over another is your preference in its construction. Is it solid built? will it fall apart?
Further, HDMI cable carries digital signals. Analog signals always degrade in a cable, but it is generaly always imperceptible, and are often unmeasurable. But digital signals can theoretically be transmitted with no degradation AT ALL. None. (And even when there is signal degradation, buffering and error correction can fill in the holes perfectly. The HDMI spec doesn't include error correction, but why should it? The distance is 50 feet max, and is usually less than 3 feet.)
So if you are asking yourself which HDMI cable to buy, remember digital is digital, it is either there or it is not. You do not get signal dedrigation from the cable, if you are experiencing problems, you should probably look at the equipment your are using, rather than the cable.
A more expensive HDMI cable in the big box stores gives you a fancier colorful package, often with more words on it. It also puts more money in the store's registers. That is all.
Update: Check out this post on Engadget, this is exactly what im talking about.
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