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As another year heads towards closure in a whirl of deadlines, press parties, hangovers and last-minute shopping, the technology journalist's thoughts naturally turn towards ensuring that some shiny and expensive bits of high tech kit make their way homewards. |
Now that the taxman, in his infinite wisdom, frowns upon such strategems as the flexibly scheduled 'long term test', or the shameless 'blag' from a benevolent vendor, the poor techno-hack is left with a stark choice: shell out some real folding money (God forbid), or beg Santa to come up with the goods.
So it's begging, then -- and there are few more eloquent beggars abroad at this time of year than the tech journo in search of a freebie. Listed below is a series of paeans to Lord Claus of the North Pole from ZDNet UK's finest. Click, read and be merry…
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Who |
What |
Why |
Where |
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Matt
Loney |
D-Link DSM-320 Wireless Media Player |
'the first wireless media player to support 802.11g' |
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Michael
Parsons |
Apple iPod Photo |
'hand appeal' |
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Rupert
Goodwins |
Agilent Infinium DSO80000Series |
'indistinguishable |
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Charles
McLellan |
Line 6 PODxt Live |
'the mother of all |
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Jonathan
Bennett |
Hush ATX Media PVR |
not an 'ugly, noisy box' |
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Andrew
Donoghue |
Sony Network Walkman NW-HD1 |
'sheer design |
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Graeme
Wearden |
Sharp 902SH |
'the most advanced |
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Dan Ilett
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Canon EOS 10D, |
'the perfect digital darkroom' |
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Ingrid
Marson |
Navman GPS 3450 Voice |
to avoid getting 'utterly lost' abroad |
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Having a two-year old daughter, I take way too many photos -- all of them digital, naturally. My music is mostly ripped to MP3 format on a hard drive on one of several computers, although I haven't yet got round to ripping the vinyl; the next job is to start ripping movies.
The thing is, I don't really buy the convergence story that says we'll all be watching movies on our PCs and accessing the Internet on TV screens. That said, connecting the TV to the PC does make some sense. What I really need to go with this is a media player that will access my photos, music and videos, and pump them through the hi-fi/TV/projector setup. I like the look of the D-Link DSM-320 Wireless Media Player, which is designed to slide in among the rest of your hi-fi/TV gear.
Being the first wireless media player to support 802.11g, this looks well-suited for streaming videos.
There's no shortage of connectors on the back -- coax, optical and composite audio, S-Video, composite and component video, plus a wired Ethernet port. The remote control has direct access buttons for music, photo, video and online media, and what I've seen of the on-screen display looks pretty useful: it shows elapsed time, artist, song, album, genre and next song. It plays most formats, including MP3, WMA and WAVaudio files for music; MPEG1/2/4, AVI, QuickTime and Xvid for video; and JPEG, JPEG2000, TIFF, GIF, BMP and PNG formats for images.
The only thing that's missing is a hard disk to turn it into a PVR-type device. But a little bird tells me that might be coming next year, so maybe I'll hang on a little longer just in case…
Price
£129.99 (inc. VAT)
I've been counting the number of people sporting those tell-tale white 'mug me' ear buds on my commute into the office, and the number grows inexorably higher.
I've been through the shock of not having one, I've worked through my anger, I've tried bargaining, denial and acting out, and have now reached the calm, final stage of any serious life change: acceptance. I have to have one.
I'm clearly late to the party, so the only possible option is to vault over the sad iPod masses, with their bland black-and-white screens and their inability to display fetching album art, and commute in triumph with the shiny new photo version.
We've had a digital camera at home for about a year, which means I've only built up a library of about 1,000 digital photos, and my MP3 collection has topped out -- with the storage limit of my notebook -- at a modest 5,000 tracks, so it should be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
I'll be quite comfortable with the 60GB photo version, which will allow me to store up to 15,000 songs or as many as 25,000 photos -- plenty of room to make our son’s life a nightmare by obsessively cataloguing every stage of his development and creating a vast library of slideshows (with amusing faux-hip soundtracks) with which to embarrass him during those difficult teenage years. The 220-by-176 pixel LCD screen offers 65,536 colours, which will be perfect for capturing the lurid, multicolour splatter paintings of the family dining experience.
I recently got to meet Apple’s global iPod marketing supremo, who talked me through the specs of the new machine. She was quick to point out that one of the biggest benefits of the new model is the colour screen. 'After all, we see in colour,' she enthused. I found it hard to disagree with this logic.
I also saw the spectacularly vulgar and clueless U2 special edition, which is as fine an example of gilding the design lily that I ever hope to see, and which is definitely not on my Christmas list this year.
True fans of U2 may be mesmerised by the autographs of Bono, The Edge, and the other two, but I was just overwhelmed by the garish red and black colour scheme. I was also labouring under the misapprehension that it came loaded with U2's music, but actually it just comes with a voucher that enables you to purchase this collection -- at an admittedly handsome discount -- from iTunes online music store. And there's no iTunes store in Ireland at the moment, which seems a bit of a shame for any diehard local fans.
If you're one of the last two or three people in England not to have played with an iPod, allow me to let you in on a little secret. You've probably heard all about the wondrous click wheel, the effortless user interface, the jaw-dropping storage, the impeccable sound reproduction. However, the real joy of the little white box is actually hand appeal. Pick one of these puppies up and what strikes you is not the white Imperial Storm Trooper cladding, but the surprisingly chunky heft in your hand, and the smooth burl of its polished metal rear, which feels like an extremely expensive antique silver cigarette case. What's not to like?
Price
from £359 (inc. VAT)
For many years, I was the proud owner -- and occasional user -- of a rather ancient Cossor oscilloscope. Ex-MOD, it had all the knobs and buttons a chap could desire, and it made as many cool green squiggly lines as you'd ever wish to see outside a 1970s sci-fi flick. For the technically minded, it was a dual-beam 20MHz device: you could just about debug a Z80 computer with it and fix most things that went wrong with a telly or a radio. I did all those things with it, but mostly I just grokked having the thing around as a badge of proper geekhood.
Unfortunately, the 'scope got lost in peculiar circumstances -- along with my Geiger counter, ex-Admiralty B40 receiver, PDP-8A minicomputer (with real core store, for shame) and much else. So, dear Santa, what I want this Christmas is an Agilent Infiniium DSO80000 Series oscilloscope.
This little beauty is the state of the art in electronic measuring systems. Four channels and twenty gigasamples a second back up a stonking 13GHz bandwidth -- so there's nothing going on in even the fastest computer that can escape the attention of its probes. And oh, the technology inside. High technology doesn't begin to cover it: the combination of hybrid construction, silicon germanium, gallium arsenide, BiCMOS, on-structure Faraday shields and other mixed analogue and digital technologies make the front end of this scope one of the most uncompromisingly advanced statements of technical excellence on the planet.
It doesn't hurt that such a rich coalescence of different ideas results in circuitry that looks strikingly different -- a strange and intriguing mixture of abstract layouts, bursts of symmetry and exotic structure. Rich gold filigree microstrip forms almost Mayan patterns on top of crisp white ceramic substrates, while fluidly sculptured isolation shields outline symmetric blocks of occult functionality.
This is technology at the precise point it shades into Arthur C Clarke's third law and becomes indistinguishable from magic -- and like all good magic, it looks the part. But like all good science, it has the added extra that it works. And being an Agilent device -- in other words, Hewlett Packard's tradition of engineering excellence at its best -- it carries on working. No obsidian knives or nervous virgins required. It is a thundering shame that the newly revamped Museum of Modern Art in New York doesn't have an example of this device.
There are downsides. From the outside, it looks much the same as other test equipment -- with the exception that some bright spark has decided on a pastel colour scheme to differentiate the four input channels. Lemon yellow, olive and dusky blue -- yeah, just about. But pink? A pink knob on a device this uncompromisingly macho is like Schwarzenegger in suspenders: it should never, ever be allowed. And then there's the cost -- we're looking somewhere north of $120,000. But Santa doesn't count the pennies, does he? Anyway, if he wants me to redesign that global sleigh positioning system to use the new European satellites, he'd better deliver -- or someone portly will be walking back home to the North Pole next year. I trust I've made myself clear.
Price
from $120,000
Line6 is an interesting company, as it represents the convergence between two contrasting worlds of nerd-dom: on the one (slow) hand, we have vintage guitar amplifiers, speaker cabinets and classic effects pedals (or 'stomp boxes'); on the other (sleight-of) hand, we have up-to-the-minute digital signal processing technology and software modelling.
So what exactly do these sonic wizards at Line6 do? Basically, they have meticulously analysed how the venerable valve (a.k.a. 'tube' to our US cousins) behaves within every conceivable type of amplifier design -- ironically, solid-state (or transistor) amps lack the essential warmth and tonal quality that musicians require. They have then modelled the whole lot in software, combining this effort with a similar job on speaker cabinets and effects pedals. This 'PODxt' technology has been packaged in a number of ways: kidney-shaped gizmo, rack-mountable unit, software, within a number of Line6 amps, and most recently as a rugged stage-ready pedal board, the PODxt Live.
Want to recreate that 'Hendrix at Woodstock' sound, or give it some Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd psychedelia, or have a crack at the solo in Steely Dan's 'Reeling in the Years' with just the right sound? (OK, I've given away my vintage.) A bit of tap-dancing on the PODxt Live, and you're there. It comes with lots of presets, and you can create and save your own, or download other peoples' from Line6's Custom Tone Web site. You don't even need a guitar amp any more: on-stage you can plug straight into the PA, and it'll connect to a PC for recording too.
As someone who has spent far too much time window-shopping in Charing Cross Road and Denmark Street over the years, this 'mother of all effects pedals' was the final straw. Having written up this article, I had to go out and buy one right away! Santa will just have to think of something else to give me...
Price
£399 (inc. VAT)
Hush Technologies first started producing silent PCs based on small form-factor motherboards from Via, but now offers a range of more powerful, full-spec PCs -- still without a single fan. One of its living-room-friendly models is the Hush ATX Media PVR.
The advantage of this sleek, silent case design is that you can fit a PC in with your other hi-fi components or video recorder in your living room without it looking -- or sounding -- out of place. After all, who wants an ugly, noisy box cluttering up the room you're meant to be relaxing in? You can choose a silver or black case to fit in with the rest of your kit. Since you get a remote control with the ATX Media PVR, you don’t even need a keyboard or mouse around once you’ve set the system up to your satisfaction.
The ATX Media PVR comes in a number of configurations, but if you choose the options carefully -- 2.8GHz Pentium 4, plenty of RAM -- it'll be powerful enough for demanding digital media handling. Stick a 400GB hard drive in there and you have an excellent media PC just waiting to store all your audio, video and images. TV and DVI video outputs mean you can connect it to plenty of display devices. There are FireWire and USB 2.0 connections on the front panel for you to plug your portable audio player into it to download tracks.
UK viewers will want to swap the default Hauppauge Nova-S digital satellite card for its terrestrial sibling, the Nova-T. This way, you get all the Freeview channels available, including radio. Get the optional DVD rewriter drive and you have a complete video system.
Hush supplies the Media PVR with Windows XP and ShowShifter PVR software, but there's no reason why you can't change this for another system, even a Linux-based PVR like MythTV.
Price
£1,792 (inc. VAT)
After missing the early-adopter phase of the iPod, I can't now bring myself to covet something that's fast becoming a bit of a cliché. By tapping into the zeitgeist so brilliantly, Apple has exposed itself to the whims of fashion. The must-have accessory for today's celebrity can easily become tomorrow's me-too gadget owned by every shell-suited 'chav' in your local out-of-town hypermarket.
But while Apple could become the victim of its own success, Sony -- the company that bought us the Walkman -- has long been hampered by its own arrogance. Despite its heritage as the company for portable music, Sony has so far failed to shine in the digital music player market.
Letting Apple stroll in and eat its lunch wasn't too clever -- but then, Steve Jobs is a smart cookie so perhaps we can forgive Sony that one. But launching the Network Walkman NW-HD1 and not supporting MP3 is pretty inexcusable. Choosing to respond to the iPod's success by launching a device without native support for the de facto music file format seems more than short-sighted. The company was effectively saying, "Yes, we know that MP3 has become the digital music standard, but we can change all that because we're Sony -- so there!" Not surprisingly, this stance hasn't worked, and Sony has now launched the MP3-compliant NW-HD3.
The reason all of this is so galling is that, as we quickly discovered after unwrapping it, the NW-HD1 is an extremely nice device. It's lighter than an iPod, very easy to use and its shiny chrome and black exterior is decidedly smart. And it’s a Walkman! There's all that heritage -- the Walkman is already an icon, and thus insulated against the whims of fashion.
The question is, does the great design and Walkman heritage balance out the MP3-free arrogance and the hefty price tag of £250 (inc. VAT) for 20GB of storage? After all, that kind of cash will nearly secure you a 40GB iPod. I personally have to say 'yes' -- as a relative newcomer to the world of digital music, I haven't invested much time or energy in the MP3 format, so Sony's lack of support isn't too big a drawback.
Another plus is that Sony has opted for somewhat nondescript black headphones rather than the white mugger-adverts that come with the iPod. Another anti-theft plus-point is the fact that the actual NW-HD1 player is only half of the technology double-act required for charging and downloading music. The player comes with a neat little cradle that you'll need to transport with you if you plan to take a trip. This is admittedly a bit cumbersome, but should also mean that there won't be much of a black market for standalone players. Without the cradle, they're all but useless once the battery gives out.
If you can get over the desire to punish Sony for its bloody-mindedness over the MP3 issue and can stomach the hefty price tag, then the sheer design excellence of the NW-HD1 will win you over. And just think how smug you'll feel this time next year, when the iPod is about as fashionable as a 'mullet' haircut.
Price
£250 (inc. VAT)
Britain has been waiting many years for 3G to get serious. Frankly, when the government auctioned off its third-generation licences I still believed in Father Christmas -- and the same probably went for Gordon Brown when a cool £22.5 billion dropped into his lap.
Hutchison's 3 network made the first move in 2003, but the market has really got serious in the last couple of months with Vodafone and Orange also entering the fray. So if Santa wants to reward my 12 months of faultless behaviour, he can stuff my stocking with a Sharp 902SH.
It's only available in the UK from Vodafone, and it looks like the most advanced 3G phone around.
Vodafone claims that the 902SH is the first European 3G phone with a 2-megapixel digital camera, supporting a 2x optical zoom. With this little gem I can take a decent-quality picture and fire it back to the ZDNet UK news desk within seconds -- ideal for when I'm reporting from a trade show or a press conference.
There's a 2.4in., 240-by-320 pixel, 262,144-colour screen, which should make for good video-conferencing calls. Bluetooth, USB and infrared support won't hurt. My inner child will enjoy playing the games too, with motor racing, snowboarding, golf and tennis just a few clicks away. And because it's an elegant beast, with its shiny clamshell case, the 902SH might even bring me a touch of style.
The 3G wars won't just be fought over the handsets. Operators need to offer some highly attractive content packages to get users excited. Vodafone's package looks pretty impressive, with Premiership goals, ITN news, music downloads and movie clips to choose from.
As this is coming out of Santa's wallet, I needn't worry about the extra cost of shifting to 3G. The 902SH will cost somewhere between £50 and £250, Vodafone says, depending on which contract you choose. Vodafone's "Live! with 3G" service costs either £40 or £60, depending how many voice minutes you want.
Price
£50 - £250 (inc. VAT), plus £40 or £60 per month for a Vodafone 3G account
I've been a good lad this year, so I'm hoping Santa will reward me with two toys for Christmas. What I'm really after is the perfect digital darkroom, and personally I think that Canon makes some of the best digital photographic gear going. (I've also heard that they like journalists!)
Canon's EOS 10D is a high-spec digital SLR, which can snap away with very little delay -- something most digital cameras have trouble with. The EOS 10D can take photos with resolutions of up to 3,072 by 2,048 pixels, which is more than enough for any close-up wildlife photography I'll be doing come the spring, and can fire bursts of nine shots off at once. That's good for when your fellow hacks make fools of themselves at Christmas parties.
Online shops sell the camera for around £1,000 (check here), so Santa, wouldn't even have to leave his sleigh, let alone descend any chimneys. He wouldn't find any mince pies or sherry in my house anyway. Beer or nothing, mate.
Digital SLRs are still expensive, but they have come down in price significantly, and are well equipped to deal with anything I need to photograph, so switching over from my film-based EOS SLR shouldn't be a problem.
With all this winter weather coming, my darkroom in the loft is getting a bit chilly too, so what better way to develop photos than on my Apple PowerBook with a Canon PIXMA iP8500 inkjet printer? That should keep the chilblains at bay.
Canon's range of iP inkjets are all pretty good, but this one has the packs the eight-ink ChromaPlus photo system, which effectively means it produces a very high-quality print. Being Canon, it should also complement the EOS 10D I'm expecting, and it supports Mac OS X.
Although you get fewer photos out of the iP8500 (Canon says 210 pages at 5 percent coverage) than the iP6000d (430 pages), the overall quality and speed of the iP8500 are better. It can also print thumbnails onto CD-R and DVD media. The iP8500, which Canon markets as 'the photographer's printer' will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine…please?
Price
~£1,000 (inc. VAT; EOS 10D)
~£325 (inc. VAT; iP8500)
Getting lost in a far-flung country can be very scary. I remember walking around a small town in Thailand and getting utterly lost. The only signs around were written in Thai, and as I only had an English map in my guide book it gave me no clue as to where I was and how I could get to where I was going. If only I had carried a handheld navigation system, I may have escaped a panicked hour where I desperately tried to find my way back to the hostel.
Quite a few companies produce in-car navigation systems, but ones that can work while out walking are less common. I like the Navman GPS 3450 Voice for HP's iPAQ, which can work both in your car and when out walking. It allows you to plan and track your journey and will deliver spoken instructions if that's what you want -- although you'd be well advised to turn off this feature when out walking as it could frighten passers-by.
The Navman 3450 is compatible with the H3700, H3800, H3900, H5450 and H5550 series iPAQs, one of which is the next thing on my Christmas list, as I don't have one of those either. It retails at around £199, for which you get both the Satellite Receiver and SmartST GPS Mapping Software for Western Europe. Unfortunately, the company doesn't appear to have produced maps for any countries outside the Western world, so I won't be able to use it on my travels just yet.
Even if Navman does extend the range of maps it provides, I don't think I'll want to pay for the software for a short trip abroad. What I would like to see is manufacturers opting for a reasonably priced pay-as-you-go approach -- so that you can download the software for the region you're in and pay for the time that you use it -- rather than a one-off payment for software that you may never use again.
I expect there could be reasonable demand for this, particularly among backpackers who have set off on a year-long trip to far-flung corners of the globe. I recently returned to the UK after backpacking for 18 months and there were countless times that I could have done with such a device.
As an aside (not to mention a shameless plug – Ed): for those of you are thinking of going travelling yourself, I have written a guide to backpacking that offers anecdotal advice on travelling. The book, called The Rules of Backpacking, is due to be published by Vanguard Press in January 2005.
Price
£199 (inc. VAT)
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