Accessories include a dock which props the unit upright in “picture frame” mode, a real keyboard, and a nice carry case. Also included is a big make over for the iWork suite of applications so they can work on the iPad and take full advantage of the interface.

The standard WiFi version ships in March and the 3G version ships in April.

//Jon

I scored a good deal today. Periodically I have been checking the camera section at our local Target store and watching the prices on the HD camcorders. Admittedly, these are the low end HD camcorders, along the lines of the FlipCam’s. But they are small enough to fit in your pocket, easy on the battery, and can take up to a 32GB card. In good light they do a reasonable job.

Here are some sample shots. The first one was taken with the Aiptek at the 8 megapixel setting. The second with my old Fuji S5000 at the 6 megapixel setting. Both images are cropped down by this blog to 480×431. The originals are here.

The colors look richer in the Aiptek (left) image however the colors in the Fuji image are more true to the actual object (some of my woodworking handiwork)

And since it is a video camera, here is a link to 1 minute worth of video. It is in Quicktime MOV format and the file size is 35MB. Right click and “save as”. The 35MB original is here.

Notice the sensitivity to camera shake. This shot was hand held with the lens pressed up against the glass window for added stability, hover you can still see movement. Without image stabilization, or post processing to remove the shake, these small cameras really need a tripod.

//Jon

Why? I’m shopping with my dollars, thats why. Comcast was costing me between $75 and $110 per month, the variance attributed to on-demand movie rental. When something went wrong the service was horrible. A cut cable in the neighborhood usually resulted in a temporary cable strung over neighbors laws, or across driveways in the street. This could last for weeks until it was repaired properly. Picture pixelation was a problem, especially during storms. And finally, no al-a-carte choices, you have to take their ‘bundles’ most of which we didn’t watch, just to get that one channel we did want to watch. Enough is enough. Now I’m down to the $12.95/month for the Tivo TV guide service and Netflix which I was already paying for. The savings will pay off the new gear in about 1 year. Payback could be less for you, it depends on how sophisticated your system is, and how much gear (like a used computer) you have available already.

My Setup

I had a Channel Master HDTV Over The Air (OTA) antenna installed on the roof (actually it is in the attic). It pulls in 15 stations in Atlanta, all the networks plus their “sub channels”, PBS, and a few others. There are actually a LOT more channels in Atlanta, but I don’t speak Spanish or Korean, and I don’t watch the Christian channels. Most stations have sub channels. For example, NBC channel 11 has 11.1 (Network programming), 11.2 (weather) and 11.3 (Universal Sports).

The OTA antenna is connected to a new TIVO box. TIVO provides many services including on screen TV Guide services, recording of shows on a schedule (plus it automatically records shows you might be interested in), access to internet content, and access to your Netflix “watch instantly” queue. Internet access can be either via a hardwired ethernet cable, or the TIVO wireless network adaptor.

The TIVO is connected to an older Samsung HDTV through one of the with several component inputs. This TV also has S-video and composite inputs and a DVI input (not the newer HDMI).

For browsing the internet, playing music, and watching content from HULU, I connected a refurbished Mac Mini to the DVI connection on the TV. I was worried about this connection because the manual for the TV clearly stated that the DVI port would not support a PC (but they must have meant Windows-LOL). It worked almost perfectly. Initially the top and bottom of the screen were cut off, making it impossible to get to the Mac menu, however all I had to do was turn off overscan and the problem was solved.

Why the Mac Mini over Apple TV? Simple, Apple TV requires another MAC in the house to act as a host and store the media you want to play on the TV, which it accesses over the network. That wouldn’t work if the host was my laptop, which is often out of the house, and I didn’t want to fill up the other Mac with the content. Further, apple TV does not let you browse the internet and take advantage of Hulu, and whatever other new internet media may come along in the future. The Mac Mini is just more flexible.

DVI connections and cables can be quite tricky. I found the cable I needed at Best Buy. (Dynex DVI-I Digital Video Cable #DX-DVI2M, “for connecting a PC or Laptop with a DVI output to an HD monitor/projector with a DVI input.”). I opted for BB instead on buying it online because I could return it quickly if it didn’t work.

Next I turned on MAC Universal Access which is usually reserved for folks with visual or hearing handicaps. If you’ve ever tried to read a web page on a TV screen from a distance, it can be very hard to do, so this seemed like the perfect solution. UA has a zoom feature, just hold the shift key and roll the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in on the screen. You can even set it up so the zoomed area follows the mouse cursor. This will make it very easy to navigate the screen until my dream of a 52 inch widescreen TV is realized. and last but not least, I will load our CD collection on the Mini and turn on disk sharing so we have easy access to all our music from any computer in the house.

I control the computer via an Adesso 2.4Ghz Wireless Mini Keyboard with Optical Trackball (as a mouse). The keyboard and trackball allow operation up to 100 feet away from the Mac Mini computer. The optical trackball provides good accuracy with minimal movement due to its 800 dpi resolution. The lightweight keyboard has hotkeys. which give you one-button access to launch programs for common tasks such as e-mail access, volume control, and web browser.

A four out of five star experience. Everything works, but some folks might need help getting it all connected. A company that specializes in home theater could help.

My next project is to figure out how to control it all with one remote.

//Jon

Cardboard Scandock turns your iPhone into a document scanner: “

High tech meets low tech with this simple corrugated cardboard stand, that makes capturing document images with your iPhone a snap. If you’ve ever attempted to scan a document by just holding up your phone, you’ll know that a blurry image is often the result. This simple stand created by University of Cincinnati DAAP student Kyle A Koch, is an elegant and green solution that holds both the phone and document in the perfect position to get a sharp capture. The stand comes flat packed for just $16 through the Ponoko design store.

Of course if you insist on something a bit more high tech, you could always make a scanner using Lego.

Ponoko, via Red Ferrett

“

(Via DVICE.)

//Jon
Via Macworld

Mophie Juice Pack Air gives iPhone longer run time by Peter Cohen, , Macworld.com mStation|mophie has introduced the Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 3G. It costs $79.95 and it’s coming this Spring. The ultra-thin Brenthaven Metrolite BP The Juice Pack Air is billed as “the world’s thinnest Apple-certified external battery for the iPhone 3G.” Inside is a 1200 mAH lithium polymer battery that can double the amount of time you have to talk, , listen to music or access the Internet.

The Juice Pack Air comes in a form-fitting hardshell case for the iPhone 3G. The case features a a pass-through USB connector that lets you charge and sync with iTunes. The case sports a four LED charge status indicator and an on-off switch; when off, the Juice Pack Air functions just as a case.

Mophie plans to make the Juice Pair Air available in black, white and purple.

link: Mophie Juice Pack Air gives iPhone longer run time | iPhone Central | Macworld

//Jon
via OhGizmo!

By Luke Anderson

I think it is almost universally agreed that duct tape is nearly the most useful tool on the planet. At the very least, it is by far the most useful tape out there. However, I’ve discovered another very useful adhesive that will have a permanent place in my toolbox. Yes, I do sound like I’m getting worked up over tape, but you have to admit that Self-Adhesive Magnetic Tape is rather appealing.

The concept is rather simple; just cut off a strip of tape, stick it to the wall, another piece goes on the item you’re hanging. Now just slap the two things together and it stays. This is rather handy for items that you might need to take off the wall and hang back up again. Sure, you could buy velcro strips and get a similar effect, but those wouldn’t be nearly as fun. Not to mention at $16 for a 5-meter roll, this stuff is probably a lot cheaper.

[ Pro-Idee ] VIA [ RedFerret ]

via OhGizmo!

By Luke Anderson

I’ve discovered that I’m the kind of guy who finds himself baking something tasty at least once a month. I don’t really have a love for baking, nor am I usually making something for a get-together. Rather, I just happen to like the taste of cake and cookies, so I’ll just end up making some for myself instead of conning someone else into doing it. As a gamer, I’ve been wondering how to represent my gaming affection with my baking tools. (Okay, I haven’t actually been wondering that, but just play along.) So how does one do that exactly? With Pac-Man oven mitts of course!

The Pac-Man HotHead Oven Mitts are made completely from silicone and resemble our favorite yellow pill-eater. To give the inside of his mouth a bit of extra grip, it has been designed to look like the classic Pac-Man map. You can pick one of these up starting in April for $15.

[ Perpetual Kid ] VIA [ Technabob ]

It looks like chip-maker INTEL, who’s chips make almost all computers run, has entered the operating system market. They are providing a customized version of Linux, an open source operating system, to run on this new computing platform. This version is optimized to run efficiently with new class of Netbook microprocessor chips supplied by Intel, according to the article.

Intel hasn’t hasn’t really taken a shine to the idea of netbooks, since the low price point of the Atom processor they use doesn’t allow for very high profit margins. Well, it looks like Intel has realized that netbooks are here to stay because they’ve just taken the wraps off their own flavor of Linux optimized for the Atom processor: Moblin. Currently available as an alpha release, Moblin is built off of the GNOME Mobile platform and will utilize Intel’s own Clutter and GUPnP open source technologies. This is pretty exciting news since we just found out about another netbook-specific operating system: Jolicloud. At the very least, you probably won’t be seeing a lot of XP around soon.

link: Intel’s new OS for netbooks

Silicon Alley Insider has found that printing the New York Times costs twice as much as if the company gave every subscriber an Amazon Kindle using some rough numbers and elementary math. Obviously, not everyone likes the Kindle and cutting out the distribution of the NYT would eliminate thousands of jobs, but it clearly shows how digital is killing the print star. The transition to a digital print medium will not be complete until the next generation though as many baby boomers – and their parents – have trouble with GPSs and cell phones. So no matter how much it costs to keep killing trees, the practice will continue for their sake alone.

via CrunchGear

via DVICE

Fire safety and prevention is some pretty serious business – something small can turn into something big rather quickly. Along those lines designer Sigrun Vik, a student at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, is operating under an interesting assumption: We don’t use (or know how to use) our fire extinguishers because they’re unsightly and hidden away.

To remedy this, she’s created the Act Fire Extinguisher, which is easy enough on the eyes that it could go in the corner of your living room, kitchen, in the hallways or wherever, really. It’s designed to be hooked up to a wireless fire alarm system (which many homes do not have), and when there’s a fire, it’ll flash it’s own lights so you can clearly see it through the smoke.

Other than that, it appears to work like a normal extinguisher. It’s unclear whether you have to lug the entire thing around or if the extinguisher pops out, but we’re guessing that little pull-ring on the handle is how you use it. Either way, it’s a more integrated fixture, and one you’re likely to figure out how to use. Check out down below for more of the Act Fire Extinguisher.