That Developer

I have been following Boxee Box for a while now. It looks like the perfect media streaming device for my TV. While the device is still about a month away from release (as far as I can tell), you can download the software that drives the device to virtually any platform right now. I have not been able to really try the software yet because of my connectivity issues but with the powerline network in place, I gave it another spin.

Well, I am overjoyed to say that I can stream 1080p MKV files over my powerline network just fine. And the boxee software is slick and wonderful. I’m going to spend the next several days playing with it to decide whether I really do want to go down the Boxee Box route. I just might have to click that preorder button on Amazon…

I am a happy resident in a townhome that is about 15 years old. I am mostly happy with the house but my biggest complain has always been that it is not wired for ethernet. I do have a Wireless N setup, but the signal does not quite reach all the places where I want connectivity. My master bedroom gets frequent signal drops and my HTPC cannot reliably stream *anything*.

I researched wireless extenders. However, it appears that they reduce bandwidth. I also looked into wiring up the house. But connecting one important outlet (where my HTPC would be connected to) would have required a lot of drilling. Seemingly without a good solution, I pushed off fixing my network over and over again.

But recently I decided to get powerline networking a try. As with most people, I have been very skeptical of the technology. But a recent Netgear product has been getting a lot of good reviews on both Amazon and Newegg, and I decided to give it a try.

The product I purchased is the Powerline AV+ 200 Ultra Adapter Kit. The name is quite a moutful but basically the kit comes with two power adapters. When hooked up to two different power outlets, the units basically acts as an ethernet cable that could hit up to 200Mbps (follow the link and check out the diagram).

The packaging is quite minimal, which I like. I plugged one unit next to my cable modem and wireless router and was delighted to see a green blinking light, indicating a link rate of over 80 Mbps. I connected that unit to my router with the bundled ethernet cable. Then I plugged another unit next to my HTPC and connected those two with the other ethernet cable.

I then booted up my HTPC. And sure enough, the wired connection was recognized and the transfer speeds were unlike anything I have seen on that PC. It is rare that I come across a product that is simple and works so well. Some people appear to have issues with their powerline signal strength but given what I have seen so far everything works exactly as advertised.

I am already planning to purchase Powerline AV Wireless-N Extender unit so that I can plug it into a power outlet that will maximize my Wireless-N coverage. (Currently my wireless router sits in the corner of my house.) These units aren’t exactly cheap, but I think they’re worth every penny.

Kinect is gathering a lot of buzz and I think we’re right to be excited about it. The reason is that the technology can be used as a new user interface for a wide range of applications beyond gaming. So even if the Kinect currently has less precision compared to Playstation Move, I think that it is the right interface to invest in.

I would love to see Microsoft innovate in the XBox space and then use it across product offerings where it makes sense. I heard that Microsoft does not own the technology but a lot of software can be built on top of it. The company that owns the IP is smart to bet on its potential. And Microsoft competitors will take notice. With Apple pushing hard on Facetime, I can almost bet that sooner or later Macs and iOS devices will start having extra dots to take advantage of motion based interfaces.

As I wrote in my previous post, I have been using the Kindle application on my PC and iPhone. I was worried that reading books on a monitor or especially a phone screen would strain my eyes. But I quickly learned that my lifestyle does not allow me to read for more than 15~30 minutes at a time. When I can read in longer strides, usually in sprints of 1~2 hours at most, I read on my computer and the experience is no different than browsing the web or reading email. Yes, E-ink would be nice but I think I can live without it.

Which brings me to the iPad. At first, I was looking into buying an E-ink device and rejected the iPad solely on those grounds. But ironically, using the Kindle on the PC and iPhone has convinced me that I can do just fine reading on an LCD screen. Furthermore, when I was looking into buying a Kindle, I considered getting the Kindle DX since viewing PDFs is important to me. But the Kindle DX is currently priced at $489 and at that price I would rather get an iPad for $499. I also believe the iPad would be able to render PDF documents better than on the Kindle DX.

From a book purchasing and reading perspective, there are a couple more things I want on the iPad. Some of these might already be supported:

• Reading client on the PC as well as iPhone. As for the PC, I can live with reading through iTunes although I would prefer not to.
• Be able to download and sync to the furthest page read through the cloud (and not through syncing on iTunes).
• Be able to highlight and take notes.

In general, I think that the iPad is a great device. I look forward to playing with one when I get the chance.

I am in the process of digitizing my media collection. Over the past year or so, I have been converting my music CDs and movie DVDs into digital format to keep on my computer. It is somewhat painstaking, but I think the conversion is well worth the effort. All of my converted media is well organized and immediately accessible.

To go a little bit further, I have also been moving data onto the cloud. For instance, I love that all of my contacts are synced to Exchange. I can update contacts on Outlook, the web, or on my iPhone and they’re all synced together. I also use the Facebook connection feature so that it copies down profile pictures and syncs them to my contacts.

Recently I recycled a significant collection of printed research papers that I have digital copies of and then uploaded them onto the cloud. I really like the idea of being able to access these papers, specs, and other documents from anywhere. It is also nice to reduce clutter in the house and the office.

So that got me into thinking that it is about time that I also digitized my book collection. While I do still have some sentimental attachment to written books, I think the benefits to having them available on the cloud far outweighs the cons.

So today I purchased my first ebook on Amazon. I do not yet own a Kindle, but the book is now available on my iPhone as well as my home and office computer. I love how all of my readers can sync and keep track of my last page read so that I can always pick up where I left off. I find it difficult to sit down and read books for hours these days so I have to get through them on shorter strides. The Kindle readers will help me get through books a lot more efficiently.

The usual complaints apply to reading ebooks, but whether the book reading experience is quite there or not, I think the switch is inevitable enough at this point that I would rather start purchasing books in ebook format. And so far, I am very happy with the experience. I look forward to the day when I have the majority of my media digitized and on the cloud so that I can only keep around the things that I really care about in physical form.

Windows Phone 7 Series has been announced and it looks a lot more exciting than I expected. The fact that Microsoft actually pulled off a reboot and also adopted the Zune HD UI paradigm is encouraging. I also like the minimum hardware requirements imposed on devices and restrictions on UI customization.

Integration with online web services as well as Microsoft’s own services such as Zune and XBox Live is also something that I was looking forward to. It would be cool to see apps or widget work across multiple devices such as Windows, Windows Phone, and the XBox. I’d like to see more on tight Windows Live integration as well.

I am looking forward to checking out Windows Phone 7 devices. Ever since I saw the Zune HD, I’ve been wanting a Windows Mobile device with a similar form factor. I’ll have to see what Apple has in store for iPhone 4G, but it looks more likely that I’ll be able to finally switch back to Windows Phone.