Toyman TV

iTwinge is iCrap

2009-09-16T22:28:41Z

I'd like to meet the person who thought this was a good idea.

Unlock iPhone.
Click on an app.
Slide on keyboard.
Look like an ass.

Amazon's Kindle Talks too Much

2009-02-13T00:49:47Z

Authors Guild executive director Paul Aiken is threatening to sue Amazon and shut down the Kindle 2's text-to-speech functionality.

"They don't have the right to read a book out loud. That's an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law."

Hey, you! Yeah, you. Stop reading this post out loud to your friends or I'll sue!

Neil Gaiman has some thoughts on the issue too.

Steve Jobs' Letter

2009-01-05T16:37:01Z

It's sad that Steve Jobs needs to write a letter to get the financial analysts and fanboys to calm down. Yes, Mr. Jobs did fix a sinking ship. And yes, Mr. Jobs is the biggest reason for their success over the past decade. But the sign of a great leader is setting up the framework that will allow a company to prosper well beyond their departure. Mr. Jobs has done just that. People need to take a deep breath and relax. While it will be the end of era when he leaves Apple, the company will not implode and wipe Cupertino off the map.

Read the letter.

As the furor of this rumor picked up steam, I did something I haven't done in a long time: I bought stock. Not just any stock ... Apple stock.

Apple, All I Want for Christmas ...

2008-12-06T17:41:28Z

Dear Apple,

All I want for Christmas is an iTunes media server. I've been good all year and think I deserve this one little wish. My wife and I have different tastes in music, but occasionally our paths do cross. In those cases we'd like to be able to share songs between accounts and iPods without the need to have duplicate files.

I know that we can use iTunes sharing, but there's some serious limitations. We have to keep a copy of iTunes running at all times in every account we want to share. It also means we can't sync those files to our iPods to listen on the go. We all live in the same house and have authorized computers, so a central library makes the most sense.

Again, I think I've been good all year long. I don't pirate music and use the iTunes store on a regular basis. Well, with the exception of my frequent trips to the Amazon MP3 store and the occasional CD purchase ... oh ... and avoiding buying any kind of DRM'd music or movie on iTunes. A loyal (most of the time) iTunes user.

Looking forward to seeing what's under the tree,
-Matt

Techspansion Closes, VisualHub Discontinued

2008-10-04T02:09:11Z

Very disappointing news. VisualHub is a fantastic app that I use on a regular basis.

Read the full story.

Three Cheers for Support

2008-10-01T23:51:51Z

My first impressions of the Slingbox Pro-HD were marred by technical issues, but my hat is off to Sling Media tech support. Quick response to my emails and I've got a replacement part on the way.

Slingbox Pro-HD is in the House!

2008-09-30T19:42:45Z

It's been years in the making, literally. Sling Media announced the Slingbox Pro-HD and the Sling Catcher at CES 2007, and then again at CES 2008. A product pairing so exciting, it deserved to be announced twice!

Well, the Slingbox Pro-HD arrived in the house of Toyman yesterday and was up and running within ten minutes. Partially. I was able to hook up the box to the Tivo HD and home network within five minutes, but that's where the ease of setup stopped. After downloading the Mac SlingPlayer software, I was able to get a video and audio signal on my computer, but that's all. I couldn't setup the virtual remote to control the Tivo HD, which makes the Slingbox useless.

It wasn't until 20 minutes had passed that I discovered that I needed to run the Windows SlingPlayer to complete the setup. There is some kind of glitch in the Mac software that was preventing me from configuring the video/audio inputs. Thank goodness for VMware.

But my problems persisted. I still couldn't remotely control the Tivo HD. No changing channels, no pausing, nothing. The Sling Media support site is rather sparse, but I did find tips on how to check if the IR blaster was working correctly, which it wasn't. The cable is defective and requires a replacement. In the meantime, I've jerry-rigged a temporary fix that involves a paperclip and scotch tape. Didn't you hear? My other nickname is MacGyver.

Now that things are working, albeit a temporary fix, I'm very impressed with the video quality on my computer. Now I just need to wait for the second piece of the puzzle: the SlingCatcher.

Traffic App

2008-09-23T23:53:22Z

CLO Software's $1.99 Traffic is one of my new favorite iPhone apps. I find myself using it almost every day commuting to and from work. Yes, Google maps has a traffic overlay, but Traffic shows you a listing of traffic conditions in your area. As the iTunes description states, "Traffic makes location-based traffic reports simple and convenient." I agree.

LED Football for iPhone

2008-09-10T23:52:59Z

This is why I bought an iPhone: $301 to play a classic hand held game from the 70's. I can't tell you how much time I spent playing that game as a kid, but I still see those red LEDs in my dreams.

Macworld LED Football review.

Like Blurry Video? You'll Love the Kodak Zi6

2008-09-03T20:07:35Z

I had such high hopes for the Kodak Zi6: small, portable, high quality "HD" video. The Kodak Zi6 hits two of those three requirements perfectly. Where it falls drastically short is the video quality. If you're recording a static object, the video is breathtaking. But try recording something that is in motion and everything goes to hell. Now take into account that there's no image stabilization on the camera. Makes it kind of hard to take still shots without the use of a tripod.

Pros:

Large, bright view screen.
Easy operation.
Uses AA batteries, so you'll never be without power.
Standard SDHC slot for additional memory cards.

Cons:

This is a big one: jerky/blurry video!

I've returned my camera to Kodak and ordered a Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000. It's not as affordable as the Zi6, but I'd be surprised if the video quality isn't ten times better.

Kodak Zi6 Quick Impressions

2008-08-30T21:51:54Z

I've only had the Kodak Zi6 for a day, so I haven't come to any conclusions about the overall quality yet. My initial impressions: good color reproduction and video compression, but motion blur and jittery video can be distracting.

Kodak Zi6 - 60 FPS from Matt Ferrell on Vimeo.

Comcast to Customers, "Stop Using the Internet!"

2008-08-29T15:57:44Z

Comcast has been under fire for limiting peer to peer traffic on their network, so it isn't a surprise that they're trying to find a less offensive way to manage their traffic. Customers who exceed 250GB of bandwidth each month are in violation of service. When a customer goes over the limit, they may (emphasis on "may") receive a phone call from customer service. Go over the limit twice in a six-month timeframe and your service can be terminated for a year. Here are my problems with this approach:

A phone call is not enough. Customers should receive emails when they start nearing the limit, and bandwidth usage should be displayed in their Comcast website account and bills.
New services and technologies are pushing internet usage to all time highs, and this trend isn't going to stop any time soon. Whatever limit seems fair today may seem unfair a year from now.
Punishing customers with a termination of service is heavy handed. Why not charge extra for going over the 250GB limit? First offense is $25. Second offense within a six-month timeframe is $50.

Read the full article here.

Steve Jobs' Is Dead?

2008-08-28T21:25:09Z

I know publications write up obituaries for notable people ahead of time, but publishing them prematurely? That's a new one. Bloomberg accidentally published their Steve Jobs obituary on Wednesday. Big whoops.

Read the full article.

MobileMe and the Holy Grail

2008-08-25T14:34:02Z

MildMannered Industries blog has a recent post about MobileMe and the challenges of syncing (via daringfireball). While the post is insightful and pragmatic, I disagree with the sentiment that syncing is too hard and shouldn't be attempted.

"Personally, if it was me, I would have let .Mac die a quiet death. The problem set for ubiquitous syncing is just very very hard, and the consequences of failure, in terms of user dissatisfaction are too high. I suspect that, in time, MobileMe will go the same way as the Newton."

I can't speak to the syncing challenge from the developer point of view, but as a long-time .Mac and MobileMe user I have a consumer oriented angle.

When syncing works, it's a magical and wonderful tool. When it fails, you curse the gods for smiting you and wonder if there is justice in the world. A little over a year ago, I had .Mac wipe out my entire address book and calender data because of a hiccup between computers. I learned a hard lesson that day about backups, or in my case a lack of backups.

Shortly after MobileMe launched, one entry in my address book kept duplicating itself. Each day would add one more version. If two weeks would pass without me noticing the duplication, I'd find 14 additional entries. After some "maybe if I pat my head while I click the mouse button" troubleshooting, I stumbled upon the culprit. Microsoft Entourage on my work computer is set to sync address book and calender data with my Mac apps. There was a hiccup between Entourage syncing and MobileMe syncing that created the duplicates. The answer was to delete the duplicates and original entry and enter that person anew. Easy fix, but still frustrating.

One issue that continues to make my brain hurt is undead email that surfaces in my mail clients. If I delete an email in Mail.app, it still shows up on my iPhone until I refresh my inbox list. Irritating, but I understand why this is happening. However, if I delete a message on my iPhone and then check MobileMe's webmail, the messages are still there. Wait ... what? With no clear way to refresh the inbox list, I have to click and delete one of the undead to make the entire list refresh. I'd expect the webmail client to be the most up-to-date and free of conflicts. Yet, there they are: the undead emails. Sitting there. Taunting me.

Clearly Apple has not found the holy grail of syncing yet, but that doesn't mean I want them to give up trying. Overall, I've found MobileMe more reliable than .Mac when it comes to syncing my data. Apple is taking a step in the right direction and I can only hope they don't give up.

iPhone 3G and Application Update Woes

2008-07-25T19:46:29Z

Over the past week I've been putting my iPhone 3G through its paces, well, more like playing. While I've been enjoying the experience there is one thing that's been bothering me: application syncing.

Buy an app on iTunes and it will sync to your iPhone = Good.
Buy an app on the iPhone and it doesn't sync back to iTunes = Bad.
Delete an app off of iTunes and it's removed from the iPhone on the next sync = Good.
Delete an app off of the iPhone and it will magically reappear on the next sync = Bad.

I've also been encountering issues with updating applications. iTunes notifies me of an application update, which I dutifully download. However, the application is still listed under the previous version number in the Application section. But I thought I just downloaded it! I'm confused. Even worse, I've downloaded the update directly on my iPhone and had the update disappear on the next sync.

The App Store feels like a 1.0 product to me and has a long way to go before it feels truly seamless. Right now we're seeing all of the kinks in the armor, which doesn't feel like a true Apple experience to me.