Other Gadgets (general gadgets)

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by John Phoenix
Sounds good. We walked by the Wii in some store, or maybe it was Guitar Hero or Rock Star, and my wife and I talked about getting it. She said that it would be more time in front of the tv (which caught me off guard, as she is the tv person of the two of us), and I said that that we already spend time in front of the tv; this would be a nice alternative to just watching whatever is on.

Hm. I ended up just having to say "thank you" to a friend who has considerably more (generalized -- he'd never used a wii before) game skillz than I do.

[J. Fred Muggs]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Like all rechargeables, it can handle a certain number of discharge/recharge cycles before it poops out with declining performance. I don't think there's really anything you can practically do to make it last. It's a consumable. I replaced my PB battery after 2.5 years or so.

Open the never-used Application called Terminal and type "ioreg -l | grep Capacity". The returned values will tell you your current cycle count as well as your battery's current capacity. Or just order a new battery on Amazon. It will cost you about $120 if you don't shop around, and maybe $90 if you do.

download a freeware program called "coconut battery" and it will show you the stuff that AG said.

[ltl/fb]

So my DVD player sucks. So I need to get a new one. I don't have HD or whatever; I don't anticipate getting it soon, but probably will someday.

Any recommendations? Even just a brand recommendation. Help me narrow things down. I hate having too much selection.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally Posted by ltl/fb

So my DVD player sucks. So I need to get a new one. I don't have HD or whatever; I don't anticipate getting it soon, but probably will someday.

Any recommendations? Even just a brand recommendation. Help me narrow things down. I hate having too much selection.

If you don't have an HDTV but figure you will get one soon, just pick anything labelled "progressive scan" that has HDMI and component outputs. You'll find a brand name one at Costco for around $80. It will future-proof your DVD collection. If you pay more than $130 for a DVD player in 2008, you've overpaid, unless you bought an Oppo upconverting player, which you should only do if you have an HDTV to begin with because upconverting means hi-def.

I have had poor luck with Toshiba DVD players, FWIW.

[Sparklehorse]

Speaking of batteries, I have a 2G nano. It's got a smallish drive that only holds about 500 songs. The battery is hardly holding a charge these days and only lasts about an hour. I'm planning to get one of the new nanos in the near future and probably hand the old nano down to a kid in the family. Does anyone have any experience replacing a nano battery? I'd like to get the problem fixed before passing it along if possible. A cursory search indicates that the 2G nano is the hardest one to replace on one's own and I'm not about to buy a soldering gun for this. I plan to bring it to the local Apple store but I'm curious to know if anyone here has any experience with iPod battery replacement.

Also, I've been using a cheesy photography software that came with my desktop and it's apparently corrupted. I use a PC. Is there another program besides Photoshop that I should be checking out?

TIA for any insights.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally Posted by Sparklehorse

Speaking of batteries, I have a 2G nano. It's got a smallish drive that only holds about 500 songs. The battery is hardly holding a charge these days and only lasts about an hour. I'm planning to get one of the new nanos in the near future and probably hand the old nano down to a kid in the family. Does anyone have any experience replacing a nano battery? I'd like to get the problem fixed before passing it along if possible. A cursory search indicates that the 2G nano is the hardest one to replace on one's own and I'm not about to buy a soldering gun for this. I plan to bring it to the local Apple store but I'm curious to know if anyone here has any experience with iPod battery replacement.

Also, I've been using a cheesy photography software that came with my desktop and it's apparently corrupted. I use a PC. Is there another program besides Photoshop that I should be checking out?

TIA for any insights.

I have not replaced an iPod battery and I've never known anyone who has had to replace an iPod battery. I would ask at the Apple store. I doubt they will try to screw you on a battery and it sounds way easier than doing it yourself.

I'm not really sure what other good photo software there is besides photoshop, but I will mention that photoshop (and all other Adobe creative suite programs) will be coming out with a new version in a week or so. I haven't heard that there will be big changes to photoshop (as opposed to, say, flash, which has big changes coming), but just an fyi that there is a product release coming up.

[Icky Thump]

Originally Posted by Sparklehorse

Speaking of batteries, I have a 2G nano. It's got a smallish drive that only holds about 500 songs. The battery is hardly holding a charge these days and only lasts about an hour. I'm planning to get one of the new nanos in the near future and probably hand the old nano down to a kid in the family. Does anyone have any experience replacing a nano battery? I'd like to get the problem fixed before passing it along if possible. A cursory search indicates that the 2G nano is the hardest one to replace on one's own and I'm not about to buy a soldering gun for this. I plan to bring it to the local Apple store but I'm curious to know if anyone here has any experience with iPod battery replacement.

Also, I've been using a cheesy photography software that came with my desktop and it's apparently corrupted. I use a PC. Is there another program besides Photoshop that I should be checking out?

TIA for any insights.

I thought I overheard a genius tell someone it was $25 to replace a battery on an ipod mini.

[Hank Chinaski]

I just heard there are gps watches that count movement distance, like when you run somewhere unfamiliar. anybody have a recommendation?

[Jack Manfred]

Last year I bought a Sony Bravia 40" HDTV. Now I'm thinking about getting a Blu-Ray player and a home theater system. In the past, people had recommended just getting a PS3 instead of a stand-alone Blu-Ray player. Does the Sony BDP-S350 player change that calculation for me? I've read that the step-up Sony BDP-S550 is the choice only if you have some sort of home theater set up already because it has some backward-compatabililty with 5.1 surround sound components.

I was considering getting this Sony Home Theater setup as well: Sony-HT-SS2300 home theater.

I don't want to get a PS3 because I'm afraid I'll lose my job if I get one.

Any advice from the technically inclined? All that I have hooked up to the TV now is an ancient Sony DVD player and a Comcast box with DVR. I have an old Tivo Series 2 that is sitting in my closet because it's not HD.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Jack Manfred

Last year I bought a Sony Bravia 40" HDTV. Now I'm thinking about getting a Blu-Ray player and a home theater system. In the past, people had recommended just getting a PS3 instead of a stand-alone Blu-Ray player. Does the Sony BDP-S350 player change that calculation for me? I've read that the step-up Sony BDP-S550 is the choice only if you have some sort of home theater set up already because it has some backward-compatabililty with 5.1 surround sound components.

I was considering getting this Sony Home Theater setup as well: Sony-HT-SS2300 home theater.

I don't want to get a PS3 because I'm afraid I'll lose my job if I get one.

Any advice from the technically inclined? All that I have hooked up to the TV now is an ancient Sony DVD player and a Comcast box with DVR. I have an old Tivo Series 2 that is sitting in my closet because it's not HD.

I'll have less, atticus or Ty answer this depending, I need to know if you'll mainly be looking at classic movies, japanese video games or porno. once we know this background info I can make sure the right man will respond. it's horses for courses iykwimaittyd.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Jack Manfred

Last year I bought a Sony Bravia 40" HDTV. Now I'm thinking about getting a Blu-Ray player and a home theater system. In the past, people had recommended just getting a PS3 instead of a stand-alone Blu-Ray player. Does the Sony BDP-S350 player change that calculation for me? I've read that the step-up Sony BDP-S550 is the choice only if you have some sort of home theater set up already because it has some backward-compatabililty with 5.1 surround sound components.

I was considering getting this Sony Home Theater setup as well: Sony-HT-SS2300 home theater.

I don't want to get a PS3 because I'm afraid I'll lose my job if I get one.

Any advice from the technically inclined? All that I have hooked up to the TV now is an ancient Sony DVD player and a Comcast box with DVR. I have an old Tivo Series 2 that is sitting in my closet because it's not HD.

It has been awhile since I shopped, but I bought a PS3 because it played blue ray, was cheaper than the other options, and, of course, also played games. I also have an Oppo upconverting DVD player. I have been happy with the combination in particular because not every movie is available on blue ray from netflix.

I'm not exactly sure why, but I have alway been skeptical of home theater packages. It's probably irrational, but I have had a Onkyo surround sound tuner and JBL speaker set, which work great.

That said, the price certainly seems right for that Sony package, and it is probably as easy an option as you are going to get.

[bold_n_brazen]

I really want a Blackberry Storm. It's not logical... completely visceral. Me. Want. One.

Anybody have any input/feedback/thoughts?

[1436]

I saw one a few weeks ago and it looked very cool. The person using it said it was a bit hard to get used to the virtual keyboard, but it was very nice.

It looked a bit clunky next to an iPhone, but not very many lawyers can get an iPhone to work with their email, AFAIK.

[Oliver_Wendell_Ramone]

Anybody know anything about pianos? And more specifically, buying one? My musical knowledge is limited to being a snobby rawk fan and wannabe critic. No skills with the real deal. But 8-year-old daughter has been in lessons for going on a year, doing well, liking it quite a bit, and outgrowing the non-full-size digital keyboard we borrowed.

Anyone?

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by bold_n_brazen

I really want a Blackberry Storm. It's not logical... completely visceral. Me. Want. One.

Anybody have any input/feedback/thoughts?

For me, the big issue is Verizon's exclusivity. I don't know any verizon users here who are happy with their service.

I tinkered for a couple of minutes with a co-worker's Storm. I felt the touch-screen was a bit more user-friendly, because something actually responds when you press it. Unfortunately, it hadn't been set up with all the connectivity because our IT people have to sterilize our devices before they work with our firewall, so I can't tell you it surfed the interwebs at a bazillion miles a second or anything.