iPhone 3GS

Thanks to our cousin Peter, we were able to upgrade Lediya's iPhone 3G to the 3GS for a reasonable amount and without having to sign another two year agreement with AT&T. The 3GS has a larger capacity flash drive (16GB), a faster processor, and a video camera which will come in handy recording the kids. It's great so far, and I think I myself will move to the iPhone when my contract with Sprint runs out this summer as I find the phone extremely easy and useful. The only thing I really dislike is the requirement to use the bloated and resource hog iTunes. The best part though was that I was able to sell the old iPhone 3G for close to its original cost on eBay, which was more than enough to cover the cost of the 3GS!

Nikon 35 mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Prime Lens

I just added a third lens to my growing collection, and this time it's the Nikon 35mm prime lens. My main reason in getting this lens is to be able to take better indoor shots without using the flash. This is important in that I plan to take a lot of pictures of our baby girl. In fact, we may even skip the professional photographer and just have me take her photos to save money. This lens produces sharp pictures and great color and contrast. It is also perfect for portrait and other general purposes. Being a prime lens, it doesn't zoom so I have to move my feet to compose the shots. I've had it for a couple of weeks now and it's been on my camera ever since. It's so light and compact too. I used it in Disneyland to take evening shots of the park and it performed excellent without having to use the flash. Fast and versatile lens!

Mint.com

We've long been fans of using personal finance software because it helps us track our day to day spending and long term investments. We see the tool as an important key to helping us achieve financial independence. For years, we've used Microsoft's Money software. While the software was feature laden, I still had to key in some transactions manually every day as the product did not download transactions automatically all the time. Also, the data lived only on one PC. If I wanted to quickly check our financial situation, I would be out of luck if I wasn't near our computer. So I started looking at web-based personal finance programs and the one that I tried out was Mint.com. It works like this: The user looks for their financial institutions and enter their username and passwords on Mint. Mint then aggregates all this information and presents it in an easy to read format. The best part is that Mint automatically downloads the transactions every day so when you log in, the transactions are there ready to be reviewed. It also tries its best guess in categorizing the transaction (which can be manually overriden by the user, and it can also be split).

Mint also has a robust reporting tool that is fully date and category customizable. Very useful to see which spending categories are out of whack or are underspent. You can also construct a budget and Mint will automatically track your spending and alert you (via email or text) if you have spent more than the amount you alloted for that category. Finally, Mint also has an Investments section that tracks the performance and purchases of your investments.

There are some cons however. The big one is that the user has to be comfortable providing all their usernames and passwords to Mint as it is now all stored in one place and in theory, a hacker now can have access to all of your accounts in a single shot. However, Mint uses Yodlee security, which all the large financial institutions use. Also, having Mint store all the login information is actually useful because now you can see, on one webpage, all the transactions that have posted to your accounts, whether its legit or not. So it's easier to spot fraudulent transactions. Another Mint limitation is the inability to enter manual accounts and transactions. Not all my financial institutions are supported unfortunately, and my local credit union is not on the list. So I have to login to that bank separately. But Mint is adding new financial institutions every day and hopefully my credit union can be included in future updates.

Since Mint and my data resides in the "cloud" now, the single best attribute is now I can access my account from anywhere at anytime. I mostly access it from a laptop or desktop, but I also use Mint's iPhone/iPod Touch app to get a quick snapshot of my accounts when I am on the road.

Overall, Mint is a viable replacement to Microsoft Money and if anything, I've saved so much time not having to enter transactions manually. I am confident in the security of my accounts, and I find anytime/anywhere access of my data extremely convenient. The reporting features are also top notch. Best of all, Mint is free!

HTC Touch Pro

I recently upgraded my one year old Motorola Q9c to the HTC Touch Pro. My Q9c was working perfectly fine but as you know I like the fanciest, newest, and greatest gadgets (at a reasonable price of course). I sold the Q9c for $100 on craigslist and picked up the Touch Pro for $225 on eBay. This phone is above and beyond the Q9c, as it utilizes my ultra discounted Sprint SERO plan to the max. Examples of things I can do on this phone:

• Internet tethering via WiFi - the program that I use, WMWifirouter, enables me to wirelessly tether the Touch Pro to my Asus eeePC netbook for 3G Internet access (1.7 mbps down) for free - since SERO included unlimited data. Single most useful feature of the phone as I can have Internet access anytime and anywhere I have a Sprint signal.
• Endless application options and the ability to install a "cooked" ROM - a "cooked" ROM is a customized operating system for the phone that removes unnecessary programs that enables the phone to perform faster with longer battery life. Through PPCGeeks, I installed a custom Windows Mobile 6.5 lite ROM that is speedy and lag-free.
• Skype Mobile on the go
• Twitter and Facebook on the go
• Google Lattitude GPS tracking
• 3.2 MP camera and video
• Expansion - I have an 8GB microSD card installed
• Full QWERTY keyboard, and 2.8" WVGA screen
• Remote desktop capabilities
• YouTube and Hulu on Skyfire

It's an awesome phone and while I like the Apple iPhone a lot, I can do more on the Touch Pro than any iPhone. Plus, I will never give up my $30 per month SERO plan!

Nike + iPod

My college buddy Jay introduced me to this wonderful gizmo, a device that tracks how far and how long you've run via a sensor that you embed in the shoe and an iPod. Once the iPod is synchronized, the data is uploaded to the Nike Running website where it is stored. You can issue challenges to fellow Nike+ users (I am engaged in two challenges right now, a 100 mile challenge and a most miles in 30 days challenge with Jay).

I used to loathe running as I found it extremely boring and repetitive. But with this gadget, I find that the fact that I see the statistics of my run motivates me to go faster and farther. The challenges add to that motivation by pushing me to run on a day that I don't feel like to try to keep up with Jay. One of my goals is to run a 5K, then a 10K, a half-marathon, then eventually a full marathon.

I am using it with my 8GB iPod Touch and my Air+Pegasus trail running shoes. Has to be one of the most useful gadgets that I've ever bought. Since I bought it, I've tallied almost 137 miles in 41 workouts!

Twinkini - Twitter for Windows Mobile

Still trying to figure out this Twitter thing (and its redundancy with Facebook status update) but I've actually found some value in it: I follow the tweets from sites such as Dell Outlet, JetBlue, Amazon, and FatWallet to get in on Twitter only deals. Also, now that I've upgraded to a Windows Mobile smartphone (HTC Touch Pro), I looked for programs that I can use on the phone to access the tweets in real time. Thanks to a recommendation from a friend, I installed Twinkini, and it seems to be a great solution. Better than the free Twitter apps on my iPod Touch.

New HTPC Setup

I've been wanting to get rid of the crappy Time Warner cable HD DVR that I've had for a while and also be able to record and burn HD shows. The cable HD DVR had several issues - it froze too much, it missed recordings, it was extremely limited in capacity, and there was no way for me to extract and save the recordings. I looked at getting a TiVo HD but I balked at the high equipment fees and the recurring monthly charge. I also looked into swapping my cable DVR out for a higher capacity one, unfortunately Time Warner didn't offer such a thing. Since the cable HD DVR rental fee and my basic cable service cost $35 per month, I also explored the possibility of cutting out cable and watching over-the-air (OTA) and online programming as well. So in the end, I decided to go with a home-theater PC (HTPC) solution.

My four year old Athlon 64, while still plenty useful, just couldn't cut it when viewing HD shows. The single core processor and limited video card couldn't handle the 720p and 1080p HD streams. So I had to get a new PC. Fortunately, we also needed a new PC for HD video editing purposes. So I looked around and eventually found a refurbished one from Dell Outlet. The system that I found, a Dell Studio Slim, featured an Intel Quad Core processor at 2.33 GHz, 6 GB DDR2 RAM, 1 TB hard drive, a Blu Ray burner, and a 256 MB ATI Radeon HD video card with HDMI, which can handle 1080p. All for $640 shipped after 15% coupon. To make it a full fledged HTPC, I also needed to purchase a TV tuner. After much research, I ended up getting a Silicondust HD Homerun ATSC/ClearQAM external network dual tuner. I installed this on my network to the cable coax connection for ClearQAM, and installed a HD antenna for OTA programming. For the PC, I ditched the Windows Vista installed on it and clean installed Windows 7 Ultimate, beta build 7068. Why beta? Well, I've been test driving Windows 7 for several months and I am convinced that this is the best OS Microsoft ever made. It is extremely stable (even in beta form), doesn't use up a lot of resources, and Windows Media Center has integrated support for ClearQAM.

The last step was pairing the HTPC to an extender in the living room. I already had a device for that, and it is the Xbox 360. So that part was easy. The best thing about the Xbox 360 is the built in Netflix streaming support, so it was an added bonus to the media center.

Now, I have a setup that can tune in to free OTA uncompressed HD channels, tune it to free ClearQAM unencrypted cable channels (example, I get Showtime HD for free), can record up to 100 hours of HD, can access online video services such as Hulu, and can stream from Netflix. Plus, it can also burn the recordings to DVD and play our music, videos, and show our pictures, and can also play Blu Ray movies. The added bonus is that it is also a full-fledged PC that we can use for HD video editing, web browsing, and other uses. We are also utilizing the Xbox 360 for things other than games. All for only $10 per month. Goodbye crappy cable company DVR!

Slingbox Solo

Another gadget that I've been playing around with lately is the Slingbox Solo, a device that enables you to watch your TV anywhere you have an Internet connection. This is called "placeshifting." So for example, if I am out of town and need to watch the Lakers on local TV, I can log on to the Slingbox software and control my cable DVR as if I was home, enabling me to watch my TV on my PC. I can also use it on my Windows mobile Motorola Q9c cell phone.

The Slingbox is connected to the cable DVR via component video cables. It also is connected via ethernet to my Internet router. It controls the cable DVR box via IR signals, and the Slingbox software even emulates the remote control that I have at home. So, if I am in bed and want to watch a Heroes recording on my DVR, I can use my EeePC netbook and watch it from there. The possibilities are endless!

Nikon D60

After much waffling back and forth and doing a cost-benefit analysis, we decided to jump on a new digital camera, the Nikon D60. It's not just a regular digital camera either, it's a Single Lens Reflex (SLR). We made the leap because we had outgrown our Canon point and shoot. The Canon just couldn't keep up with Lucas anymore, as its slow shutter speed constantly resulted in missed shots. While I thoroughly used (and still use) the video mode on the Canon (something that the D60 lacks), the superior speed on the Nikon was a refreshing change in very which way. I can literally snap snap snap away without experiencing the dreaded shutter lag.

The Nikon D60 has a 10.2 megapixel sensor, with a 2.5 inch LCD screen and caputures images at a speedy 3 frames per second. The starter kit came with a Nikkor 18-55 mm Vibration Reduction lens. It is a lot more complex than the Canon in every way, and has almost infinite ways to capture a shot. I am still learning to this day on what settings to use under certain situations. The camera, out of the box, has several useful presets that work very well, and I've mostly been sticking on the P (Program) part of the presets as that Program preset automatically adjusts the settings to suit the shot. I've also used macro and landscape modes as well.

Owning a D-SLR isn't cheap however. The kit that I bought retails for $599 but I bought it on sale for $440. I also purchased a Nikkor 55-200 mm VR zoom lens for another $100. Add to that the 8GB SDHC card (which can hold 1000+ shots), and total price is around $550. But we feel that this is an investment that will last us for many years, and should grow with us as our photography needs (and Lucas) grows.

New Gadgets

I'm a gadget freak, but a frugal and reasonable gadget freak. I wouldn't just rush out and buy the newest toy, I wait it out and see if the bugs are worked out. I do plenty of research, and I also consider the financial impact of such a purchase very carefully.

A couple of weeks ago I sold several gadgets and other extra stuff on craigslist, including my 5 year old Sony Vaio laptop, a 5 year old Dell Axim PocketPC PDA, and my 37" Olevia LCD TV. Wait a minute, isn't that LCD TV less than a year old? Yes it is, but I saw an opportunity at Costco that I couldn't pass up - a 42" 1080p Westinghouse LCD TV for $699. I was attracted to the Westinghouse because of three things: 1. 42" is a much better size for our living room; 2. The 1080p resolution and 4 HDMI inputs; and 3. The Costco 90 day return policy and 3 year warranty for peace of mind. The warranty on the Olevia was nearly expiring and since I purchased that TV at a deep discount last Black Friday, I figured I can get nearly the same amount that I originally paid for it. I was right - I sold the TV for the same exact amount as I purchased it for. So, the upgrade to the Westinghouse ended up costing less than $200, and I get 3% back as an Executive Costco member.

Of course, with a new TV purchase that featured 1080p I felt compelled to take advantage of the new resolution. Lediya and I like to watch movies at home because we can't really go to the movies anymore (plus it is cheaper). We had a Sony 1080p upconverting DVD player that we used to watch dollar movies from redbox. But, with the new TV, I wanted to upgrade to a Blu-Ray player to take advantage of the full HD resolution. So what's the best Blu-Ray player out there for the best price? The PlayStation 3! With funds from the old DVD player and from other miscellaneous items sold on craigslist and eBay (old DVDs, videogames, clothing, etc), I picked up a PS3 from Amazon.com. Why not Costco? Well, the Costco bundle was expensive and included sales tax. Through Amazon.com, you don't pay sales tax. So now I've got the PS3 hooked to the TV and enjoying 1080p Blu-Ray movies, which we rent from the local video store for $2 a day. Oh, and I also plan to use the PS3 as a video game machine when the right game comes out. As an aside, I picked up a used PlayStation Portable via an old cell phone trade, and the PSP links to the PS3.

Finally, we were down to only 1 computer in the house and we missed having a second computer. The old Sony Vaio, while still working, outlived its usefulness as a laptop because it had to be constantly plugged in. Not to mention that it was getting painfully slow, despite frequent clean installs and such. It was also heavy and bulky, weighing 7 pounds. We wanted a laptop that can be easily carted off from room to room, and be portable and light enough to take on our short trips and vacations while still having the features we want. What's the solution? A netbook! A netbook is essentially a portable sub-laptop (screen size less than 10.1" and weight less than 4 lbs.). Previously, these sub-laptops cost $1500+ because it cost a lot to cram everything in such a small space. Well, not anymore. The netbook that I studied is the Asus eeePC 1000h. It sports an overclockable 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor, 1 GB DDR2 memory, 160GB HDD, WiFi-a/g/n, 1.3MP webcam, 3 USB ports, VGA port, ethernet port, and Windows XP SP3. All for $479. It has a 10.1" WVGA screen and weighs only 3.2 lbs. The best part is that the battery lasts an average of 5 hours on a single charge. So it met all our criteria and then some. I ordered it from Costco.com, even though I could've saved some money from other online retailers, again Costco gives me peace of mind due to the 90 day return period and 3 year warranty (unheard of on computers). The upgrade from the Sony Vaio/Dell Axim to the Asus ended up being less than $300.

Tip when purchasing electronics: always, always use an American Express card. American Express doubles the existing manufacturer's warranty up to 1 year. They also have you covered just in case your stuff gets stolen or damaged. The card we use is the American Express Costco True Earnings card, which doubles as our membership card. It gives 3% cash back on dining out purchases, 2% on travel, and 1% on everything else, including Costco. Combine this with the 2% executive member reward, and you're all set!

New Cell Phone and Wireless Carrier

My Verizon Wireless contract was up recently and instead of renewing my contract, I decided to look for better options and cost savings. While browsing Fatwallet, I read about the Sprint SERO (Sprint Exclusive Referral Offer) plan. SERO, which originally started as a plan for Sprint employees and their family and friends, is ultra-discounted and contained many useful features. For $30 per month, the plan includes 500 anytime minutes, free mobile to mobile, free nights and weekends (starting at 7 p.m.), unlimited Internet, and unlimited texting. This is way better than my old Verizon Wireless plan and is $20 less expensive. I especially like the unlimited Internet and unlimited texting, two features that I did not have on my old plan and phone.

Since I will be getting unlimited Internet and texting, I started to look for a phone that can do both. I originally wanted the HTC Mogul for its touchscreen and slide out QWERTY keyboard, but was turned off by its bulk and the low battery life. I also looked at the HTC Touch, but couldn't stomach using the touchscreen to text message. So I settled on the Motorola Q9c, a thin and svelte smartphone running Windows Mobile, has a physical QWERTY keyboard and with excellent battery life. I also liked the fact that it could be endlessly customized with the thousands of applications for the Windows Mobile platform. It also has a built-in GPS chip. The phone cost $149.99 after rebate.

I've been test driving this plan and phone for nearly a month now, and I'm very happy with the results so far. The signal has been pervasive at most places, with at least two bars. On a recent drive to Vegas, the signal was strong in the middle of the I-15. Internet speeds are fast since the phone is running on the EV-DO Rev 0 network, averaging about 600 - 900 kbps. I've already upgraded the phone to Windows Mobile 6.1, loaded 2 GB worth of music onto the 4 GB miniSDHC card, installed applications that provide me real time GPS position and live traffic, watch and save flash videos (Youtube), watch live and recorded TV on my home PC, catch up on all my RSS news feeds, use the phone as a wireless modem for my laptop, keep up to date with my appointments and tasks, and so on. I can browse the Internet anytime and anywhere and also easily send email and text messages using the physical QWERTY keyboard. It also has excellent call clarity and a loud duplex speakerphone.

If you are nearing the end of your cell phone contract, SERO is worth considering with all the perks that come with it. I had a good run with my LG VX8300 and Verizon Wireless, but it got too expensive for the features that I was paying for. For $32 a month including taxes, it's a deal that cannot be beat. The phone is great too!

Wii Fit

For Lediya's birthday, I got her Nintendo's new Wii Fit game. If you haven't heard what Wii Fit is, it's a pretty revolutionary way to exercise involving video gaming. From Amazon.com: The active-play phenomenon started by Wii Sports now spreads to your whole body thanks to Wii Fit and the pressure-sensitive Wii Balance Board, which comes bundled with it. Used together players will experience an extensive array of fun, dynamic and surprisingly challenging activities, including aerobics, yoga, muscle stretches and balance oriented games. The focus of these activities is towards providing a "core" workout, a popular exercise method that emphasizes slower, controlled motions, but it's the fun approach to fitness of Wii Fit that will keep players hooked on fitness for years to come.

We've been playing it for a few days and I must say it gives a pretty good workout. For instance, I have never done any yoga before but when I attempted to play yoga, it got pretty tiring. The other fun parts are the balancing games using the balance board. Our favorites are hula hoop, ski slalom, ski jump, and tightrope walk. It forces you to use core muscles that you don't really use. If you have a Nintendo Wii, this is a must own game for you. Nintendo has done it once again.

Magellan GPS

Been playing around for a few weeks now with our new budget GPS, the Magellan Maestro 3225. I picked it up at Costco for $149 and so far it's been a handy little tool. I was also able to hack it to 6 million points of interests (POI), up from the original 1.3 million. We brought it to our trip up north last week and it was so good navigating us around San Francisco's confusing streets. What's great about it is Text To Speech (TTS) which speaks the street names and very quick rerouting calculator (when you vary from it's route). It's been very useful, I just wish it included Bluetooth capability but at that price I'm not complaining. Now we're not afraid to venture out in the great unknown anymore.

Windows Vista Upgrade Project

I recently installed Windows Vista on my 2.5 year old desktop PC because the original OS on there, Windows Media Center Edition 2005, was starting to bog down and was running really slowly. The PC is running on an AMD Athlon 64 3500+ single core chip (2.2 GHz), with 2GB of DDR RAM and a discrete 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6200 LE video card. Before upgrading, I ran the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor and, based on the PC's specs, reported that the PC can run Vista with the Aero interface. So I decided to clean install a fresh copy of Vista Ultimate.

I wanted to install Vista because of all the nifty features of the OS (Windows DVD Maker, Windows Movie Maker, better media organization, improved media center capabilities, Windows Sidebar, etc). After backing up my data onto my external hard drive, I ran the install program and it took about 30 minutes to complete.

Vista has built-in firewall and spyware programs, all that is needed is an anti-virus program. I installed Windows Live OneCare which integrates nicely with Vista. I also installed Office 2007, and pretty much that was it. Startup is now much faster, taking place in 20 seconds compared to 1 minute plus on MCE. Shutdown is equally as fast. The interface is clean and crisp with the discrete video card, and the sidebar is useful because I have a couple of RSS feeds being constantly updated as well as the current weather and a mini-slideshow of our photos.

I've also linked Xbox 360 to the PC as a media center extender to stream our music, photos, and videos, which offers an improved media center experience versus MCE 2005. I'm hoping that installing Vista will prolong the usable life of my PC for another couple of years or so.

redbox

I had heard about redbox from my mom several weeks ago but thought nothing of it since I rented my HD DVDs from Netflix for $10 per month. However, since the demise of HD DVD (and me consequently returning the player to Costco), I didn't need to rent from Netflix anymore. While Netflix was convenient, it annoyed me that the movies that I actually wanted to see were always unavailable. This is where redbox comes in.

What's great with redbox is first the price - $1 per day for a DVD. You have until 9 p.m. the following day to return the DVD, and the best part is that it can be returned to any redbox location. Fortunately, there are 2 redbox locations within 2 miles from me (both in Albertson's) so it's convenient. Since the redbox is online-enabled, I can check out the current movie inventory before heading out the door so I don't waste any time looking for the movies. Plus, there are free rental codes floating around that I've been able to use several times to get free rentals. Until I get a PlayStation 3 blu-ray player (or if redbox adds blu-ray movies), then I think I'm done with Netflix.

Sony Upconverting DVD Player

I recently returned my Xbox HD DVD player due to the quick demise of HD DVD. My only movie watching option at that point was the built-in DVD player on the Xbox, and I refuse to use that since it sounds like an airplane taking off, and it also outputs only to 480p. What to do until blu-ray players become more cost effective? The answer is an upconverting DVD player. Upconverting DVD players bridge the gap between regular progressive scan DVD players and HD players. The machine upscales a 480p image to 720p, 1080i, or 1080p via HDMI. I picked a Sony up at Costco for $80 the other day and I've been impressed with the near HD video quality. I Am Legend and Beowulf looked really good (although I must say that I can immediately tell they're not HD, being spoiled with the HD DVD player). I'm satisfied with it so far and should hold me up until the PlayStation 3's price becomes more reasonable (and Blu Ray discs become more widespread).

Logitech Harmony Xbox 360 Remote

At long last, I finally found a solution to controlling my entertainment devices with one remote! I am now using the Logitech Harmony Xbox 360 remote and it's great. It controls the TV, DVR, receiver, Xbox 360, and the Wii. It works not by device but by "activities." For example, I've programmed one button to "Watch HD-DVD" - and the remote proceeds to turn on the TV, set it to the appropriate input, turn on the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player, turn on the receiver, and set the receiver to the appropriate input - all with the push of one button.

The remote control interface is also fully customizable and the device database is continuously updated. The remote is programmed via USB on the PC. It's an awesome device and enabled me to replace 5 remotes! Recommended for those folks who want to simplify controlling their devices.

Olevia 237T 37" LCD HDTV

Our one Black Friday purchase was an unplanned one, but I just couldn't pass it up the deal. We purchased an Olevia 37" LCD HDTV from Target.com on the day before Black Friday for $535 out the door and have been very happy with it so far. It's a 1366x768 Sharp-made panel, but the picture is so vibrant at 720p/1080i that I can wait until 1080p and 120 Hz/LED backlighting become more common and standard feature sets in the future (and therefore drop in price).

The set has two HDMI inputs, two component video inputs, a VGA input, and two S-video/RCA inputs. It also has built in NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners with a 1600:1 dynamic contrast ratio and 8 ms response time. HD through the Comcast HD-DVR connected via HDMI looks great, as well as the Xbox 360 and HD-DVD connected via VGA. The primary reason that I used the VGA cable for the Xbox 360 is that the VGA upscales regular DVDs to 1080i and the HD-DVD player can output at full 1080p resolution (although this TV will downconvert to 1080i, but for the future I'm set). The second reason is that the VGA connection enables native resolution playback of content at 1366x768. Assassin's Creed looks amazing on this TV. The Wii over the component connection looks awesome as well, not to mention the widescreen aspect helps too.

As an amateur videophile, I'm pretty happy with the features on this set. I've even calibrated it using the Vikuiti LCD TV calibration DVD. The only thing that is annoying is the remote control - I can't make it work with the HD DVR so I have to fiddle with two or three separate remotes! Maybe a universal remote may solve this problem. Another issue is that standard definition television does not look nearly as good as the Sony.

So, what happens to our Sony CRT TV? The TV is so massive (168 lbs.) but I love the TV since the HD and SD picture on it is still superior in my opinion. But alas, we don't have space in our house so we have placed it on sale online. The great thing about the LCD TV is that I can carry it myself as it weighs only 50 lbs. For the price that we got it for, it can't be beat!

Picaboo Photo Books

We just received two photo books from Picaboo that Lediya created using their downloadable software, and they turned out great! She chronicled her maternity journey on the first book and created a photo book for Lucas on his first six months. Thanks to FatWallet, we were able to score a great deal, $26 shipped for both books (20 pages, leather-bound)!

Check out the photo books here:
Maternity Journey photo book
Lucas Six Months photo book

Our World Travels On Google Maps

I was playing around with Google Maps today and discovered that they added a new feature called "My Maps." My Maps is fully customizable, and I decided to create a custom map that pinpointed where Lediya and I have traveled together so far. I also embedded a photo that we took at each location. Looking at it geographically, it seems that we have a lot of catching up to do in terms of visiting other places.

You can play around with the map below. Go ahead and zoom, drag, and click on the pins to see where we've been and a photo associated with it. Cool, huh?



View Larger Map

Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player

As I mentioned in the Netflix post, we recently picked up an Xbox 360 HD-DVD player from Costco. I had a few gift cards lying around that I received from the Sharebuilder Costco bonuses so it was worth a shot. What really spawned the purchase was the fact that the Planet Earth series were available in high definition and Netflix had them. We didn't get the chance to catch the series on Discovery HD because we only have basic cable so we had been waiting a while for these to come out.

Installation was simple - just connect the HD-DVD player to the 360 via USB. It has its own power supply, and the 360 just needed a quick CD install and online update to make it work with the player. We popped in the 1st HD-DVD Planet Earth disc, and it was wow, this is awesome.

The package comes with a free King Kong HD-DVD, as well as a remote control. For a limited time there is a five free HD-DVD promotion via mail also. For $170, it's not a bad deal at all to be able to watch movies in HD, plus there's the lifetime Costco warranty in case things go bad.

Netflix Sign-Up Bonus

We just signed up for Netflix due to a sign-up bonus that FatWallet was offering. The bonus is $28 cash back for new account sign-up (you must sign up for an account at FatWallet first and then click through to Netflix from there). We enrolled in the $8.95 per month plan, which allows for one DVD to be rented out at a time (unlimited). We usually rent movies from a local mom-and-pop store as their DVD rentals are only $1.50 per day, but we got tired of waiting for Planet Earth to be available. We are also taking this opportunity to try out HD-DVD, and I will post later this week on our experience with the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player. Planet Earth should look great on HD-DVD!

MagicJack

In my quest to reduce our reliance and the cost of our landline telephone service, I ran into a device called MagicJack. It's essentially a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) device that plugs straight into the PC via a USB port and connects to a regular telephone. I've been testing this device for a week now and so far I am very impressed. The service also provides a free telephone number. Here is my analysis:

Pros:

• Free local and long distance calling to anywhere in the USA and Canada
• Free calls to the USA/Canada from international locations (they will soon release rates for international calling)
• Free voicemail, call waiting, three way calling
• Extremely portable - take the MagicJack with you anywhere there is a high-speed connection and a PC and you have your own telephone number where you can make and receive calls for free

Cons:

• Device must be plugged in to a PC that is turned on (cannot plug directly into a router)
• When the Internet and power are down, no telephone service

Installation took about three minutes after plugging in the unit (the device installs a "softphone" on the PC for dialing), and after that, the device registers your location for Enhanced 911. Once that is complete, it's all set to go. I received a 702 area code (Las Vegas) but they will be providing local numbers on September 1. Anyway, I am using my local GrandCentral number to forward the calls to the MagicJack so it's a non-issue for me.

Incoming and outgoing calls are crystal clear and there were no static or hiccups. Of course, if you're downloading a large file there might be an issue but I haven't run into this yet. Also, it works under both Windows XP and Vista. MagicJack costs $20 for the device plus $20 for the annual service, so it's $40 per year for the first year, and $20 a year after that. I'm currently paying AT&T an average of $40 per month for landline that we hardly ever use so this device will save me $35 per month if I decide to get rid of the landline (although I'm considering downgrading the landline to basic service for faxing and 911 service).

If this business model sustains itself, then I think that this has great potential.

GrandCentral - One Number For Life

I've been playing around with a service called GrandCentral.com (recently acquired by Google) and so far it's pretty intriguing. Its motto, “One number for life,” pretty much says it all. At GrandCentral, you choose a new, single, unified phone number - you hand it out to everyone you know, instructing them to delete all your old numbers from their Rolodexes. From now on, whenever somebody dials your new uninumber, all of your phones ring simultaneously. No longer will anyone have to track you down by dialing each of your numbers in turn. No longer does it matter if you’re home, at work or on the road. Your new GrandCentral phone number will find you.

As a bonus, all messages now land in a single voice mail box. You can listen to them in any of three ways. First, you can dial in from any phone (a text message arrives on your cellphone to let you know when you have voice mail). You can also play your messages on the Web, at GrandCentral.com, and download them as audio files to preserve for posterity. You can even ask to be notified by e-mail; a link in the e-mail message takes you online to play the voice mail.

The service also has several neat features that, if you're not careful, can turn GrandCentral into a full-blown hobby. I am exploring this service as the first step in possibly cutting our traditional land line service, so stay tuned.

Finally, you may have noticed the new "Call Me" feature on this blog. If you click on that, GrandCentral will ask for your phone number, it will then call you, and then connect you to me - all for free. Neat, huh?

Cell Phone Internet - $1 Per Month

I recently just signed up for WAP (wireless application protocol) Internet access for my new cell phone at Hopke.net Proxy Service for a mere $1 per month. This is 1/5th the cost of Verizon's Internet access fee of $5. The great thing about having the ability to get on the Internet using your cell phone is that you are always connected wherever you have a signal. For instance, I can check sports scores, stock prices, Gmail, movietimes, news, etc. anytime and anywhere. The WAP 2.0 browser on the phone automatically converts regular webpages into mobile-friendly sites. The great thing about this plan is that it only uses your plan minutes. So since I have free nights and weekends, I can use the Internet on the phone for free at those times.

What's the catch? Well, setting this up is really not for non-techies. To enable low-cost Internet access, you have to override Verizon's proxy settings on the phone with Hopke's settings. However, Verizon has disabled the ability to edit the proxy settings directly from the phone, therefore you have to use BitPim to get to the phone's file structure and a hex editor to mess around with the file and make the proxy changes. Not for the faint hearted, but I was able to do it. But why not do it for free and set up my own proxy server? Well, I figured that it just isn't worth it to run a dedicated machine 24/7 and leave a hole in my firewall just for free Internet access. $1 a month is a very small price to pay to not have to do that.

I'm pretty much done messing around with the phone. I now have it set up to do what I want to do - mainly with MP3s, ringtones, wallpapers, calendar, and Internet. It's an awesome phone!

New Webcam

Just picked up a new webcam from Circuit City for $20 after a $30 rebate. It's a Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX. The primary reason that we got a webcam is so that my parents could see us when we chat with them using Yahoo! Messenger. My sister also picked up the same webcam so now, my parents and I can also see baby Kaelyn on the video.

This camera has a lot of features, including a 1.3 MP camera, a built-in stereo microphone, and smart image adjusting technology. The picture above is a screen capture, without any digital manipulation, from the webcam. The video is really clear! For $20 after rebate, you can't go wrong.

We started using IM again, after years of ignoring it. It's amazing how much the technology has evolved since the ICQ days. The other day, my aunt in the Philippines was able to see us and the baby and was able to speak with us as well - for free. There are still some lag issues, but I'm sure those will get worked out. If you want to see my mug on your computer screen, e-mail me and I'll show you through IM.

Google Calendar

Like many people, I like to keep track of my schedule using a calendar. Until recently, I used Microsoft's Outlook 2003 as my calendar not because of choice but because of necessity - my Dell PDA only works with Outlook, not Mozilla's superior Thunderbird calendar, which I would rather use. Of course, I don't have my PDA with me all day so what to do when I need to check and update my schedule when I don't have my PDA?

One solution: web-based calendars. Having a web calendar enables you to check your schedule anytime and anyplace that you have a net connection. Google recently released Google Calendar and I've been using it since the Wall Street Journal gave it very favorable reviews. I like it for ease of use, full functionality, the ability to link up with Gmail and Google Maps, and because it is free. However, there is one major quandary with web calendars: you obviously can't check your schedule without net access.

What to do? Well, I found out that my new LG VX8300 cell phone has a built-in calendar function. And since my cell phone is the one device that I carry with me every day, I decided to find out whether the LG calendar is compatible with Outlook and Google. It turns out that it is! Using BitPim, I imported and merged my Google Calendar (using the iCAL format) and my Outlook calendar to the LG calendar. Now, when I am away from my PC and don't have Internet access, I can check my schedule wherever I go using my cell phone. Problem solved!

New Cell Phone

My two year contract with Verizon Wireless was up recently and since I am generally satisfied with their service, I opted to renew. That means I can take advantage of their New Every Two promotion, meaning a new cell phone every two years (up to a $100 credit). I looked around and the choice came down to two phones: the Motorola Razr V3M and the LG VX8300. I ultimately chose the LG because I have had good experience with LG phones in general and the credit for the LG was a full $100 compared to only $70 for the Razr.

It's an awesome phone so far. It's lighter and thinner than my old phone, and I especially like the integrated MP3 player. I also like the microSD expansion slot, which can accept capacities up to 2GB. The phone also has a 1.3 MP camera, meaning print-quality pictures and video. It also has Bluetooth capabilities.

The best part is that the phone's file structure is easily accessible using BitPim. BitPim is a program that you use to browse and edit the file structure of the phone, meaning that I can add custom ringtones, wallpapers, videos, and pictures - for free. I would never have to buy anything from Verizon's V-Cast store. Right now I can access the phone using Bluetooth from my PC.

I've already customized the wallpaper and added 200 songs to my new 512MB microSD card. The integrated MP3 player is great, in my opinion equal in tonal quality to our iPod (of course, I'm no audiophile).

All in all it's a great phone. I wouldn't mind using this phone for two more years since I got the latest technology for a great price. In addition to the microSD card, I ordered an neoprene armband case (for the gym) and a wired stereo headset for answering calls and listening to the music. Total cost including phone and accessories comes out to less than $70.

Windows Media Player 11 and IE7

Been playing around lately with two of Microsoft's new software releases, Windows Media Player 11 and Internet Explorer 7. As much as I dislike Microsoft software, I actually enjoyed beta testing WMP11 and IE7.

I am a WMP user because I run Windows Media Center from the PC and the Xbox, so if I want to stream my media from the PC to the Xbox, I am "forced" to organize my music and videos in WMP. I do have iTunes installed, but we only use that when we update the iPod. As far as WMP11 goes, it's impressive because it actually helped me organize my stuff better than how I put it together before. Especially useful is the two clicks it takes to obtain album art, way easier than in past versions. Plus, it has a streamlined interface that looks clean and uncluttered.

As for Internet Explorer 7, I just wanted to see how it compared to my browser of choice, Firefox 1.5. While it copied a lot of features from Firefox (tabbed browsing, mainly), I like the RSS feed availability on the left pane, and again, the streamlined and uncluttered feel of the new browser. But, being that I am always concerned about security, my main browser will still be Firefox. Plus, I like supporting the small guy.

Overall, both WMP11 and IE7 are worth the download. Bear in mind that both products are still in beta 2 versions.

Google Tools

I've been playing around lately with a couple of cool Google tools, Google Earth and Google Analytics.

Google Earth is a geographic program that enables you to see your destination from a satellite's view. It's a cool program to use for traveling, because you can actually check out to see what your destination looks like before you even get there. It has tilt and "fly-by" features, making you feel like you're Superman!

Google Analytics is another free tool that enables you to track traffic to your website. I was interested to check out the statistics on our webpage. I found out that we get traffic from all over the world and that the most visited page on our site is the Amazing Race audition video site. Go figure. The reports dashboard shows where the hits are coming from and which countries visit the site. Great web management tool.

Other Google resources that I use: Gmail, Blogger, and Picasa. I also use Google Mobile for my wireless enabled PDA.

All-Weather Case

Just bought an all-weather case for our new digital camera, which I featured in this posting. We'll now be able to use the camera in conditions and situations such as whitewater rafting, snowboarding, snorkelling without having to worry about the camera getting messed up, unlike my previous Sony camera which suffered the brunt of my fall in our Park City trip.

First test for the case: our weekend getaway to Lake Tahoe in a couple of weeks. I plan to take the camera up on Heavenly to take pictures and shoot video.

Video from DVR to DVD

Thanks to this step-by-step tutorial at Sourceforge.net, I was finally able to extract the video recordings from the DVR and burn them onto DVD. And, it's all free! All you need is a 6-pin to 4-pin IEEE-394 (FireWire) cable to hook up the DVR (in my case, it's a Motorola HDTV dual-tuner DVR, model # DCT-6412) to the PC. From the PC you can then burn the video onto DVD (you can even make anamorphic widescreen DVDs in 720p!)

This is great because if there's an awesome show that I recorded, that means I can preserve it on DVD instead of the show being stuck in the DVR.

Cool Web Sites and Tools

From PC World:

1. ScanR - Point your 1-megapixel camera phone at a whiteboard, and get a cleaned-up PDF of the image.
2. Kosmix - Promising new search site targets health, travel, and politics.
3. More TV - Download at your own risk, but TED - the Torrent Episode Downloader - is terrific at finding torrents of your favorite television shows.
4. Madehow - Illustrated and understandable explanations of the manufacture of products.
5. Amazon connect - Keep tabs on blogs by your favorite authors.

New Digital Camera

On our trip to Park City I had a pretty bad fall on one of the more difficult runs. While my ego wasn't bruised, my digital camera unfortunately was. After almost five years, my trusty Sony CyberShot DSC-P71 finally died. I thought that I had the camera well cushioned in my backpack but when I took that backwards spill, the LCD broke.

So I spent the next two weeks researching our next digital camera. Ultracompact or digital SLR? After reading many reviews, I finally settled on the new Canon Digital Elph SD450. I figured that an ultracompact would be more useful to us than a dSLR like a Nikon D50.

The next two weeks were spent researching the best price. After much thought, I decided to purchase the camera from Costco.com, mainly because of their legendary return policy. Their return policy is the equivalent of a lifetime warranty, in my opinion. They also listed it $50 off the list price, bringing the total to $299.99. Not bad, considering I spent over $350 on the Sony a few years back.

The camera is filled with so many features in such a tiny package: 5.0 megapixel CCD, 3.0X optical zoom, 2.5" TFT LCD screen, several shooting modes, and a movie mode, among other things.

I already ordered several accessories: a 2GB high-speed SD card, a camera bag, an LCD screen protector, and an extra battery.

I will keep updating as my impression of the camera continues.

New PC

Late last month we finally got a new PC. We had been using my friend's Pentium 933 PC for the past year but I finally bit the bullet and decided to get a new PC to serve as the foundation of our digital media. We ended up getting an eMachines T6524 from Best Buy. I had some gift cards that I used towards the purchase and I also used a 10% off coupon. Combined with the additional $50 manufacturer's rebate, our total out of pocket cost for the new PC came out to only $379!

This new PC met all my pre-defined criteria that I wanted. First, it is an Athlon64. So, it would be able to run future 64-bit applications such as Windows Vista. Second, it had 1 GB of RAM (upgradeable to 4 GB). Third, it has a 200 GB hard disk drive, enough space for all our pictures, videos, and music. Fourth, it has a PCI-Express slot, meaning that I can add a dedicated discrete video card later. Last, but certainly not least, it came pre-installed with Microsoft's Windows Media Center OS, which, as I mentioned in my previous post, was critical for us to be able to stream our media across the network to the Xbox.

In the future (when Windows Vista is released), I will add another gigabyte of memory, probably another 250 GB of storage, and a 256 MB video card.

Xbox Media Center Extender

As I mentioned in my previous post, I found a way to stream my digital media from our office PC to the main TV. I really wanted to get this done because I was tired of viewing pictures and video on the puny 17" LCD and listening to our music collection through the weak PC speakers. By streaming to the main TV, we are now able to view slideshows on our 32" HDTV and listen to our music on our surround-sound system.


The setup starts with a new PC running Windows 2005 Media Center Edition. This OS enabled me to be able to stream the digital media over the network to a device called a media center extender. Turns out, the Xbox is already one such device, with the help of a $30 add-on called the Xbox Media Center Extender. Setup took about 10 minutes, and shortly after that we were enjoying Depeche Mode over our surround-sound system while viewing a slideshow of our Italian honeymoon. Hallelujah!

Xbox vs. Xbox 360

So I was really, really sure that I was going to get an Xbox 360 when it came out on November 22. Despite news of shortages and massive demand, I was sure that I was going to get one. So sure that I had decided to put the beloved old Xbox on craigslist and eBay for $150. I mean, I was so excited to get this new gaming machine capable of outputting to my HDTV and to also stream my digital media from my PC.

My plan of attack was to stroll into Costco on my lunch break, happily grab a 360 bundle package for $479 (which includes the Xbox 360 Premium, a USB play and charge kit, an extra wireless controller, and 1 game), and be on my way. I figured who the heck goes to Costco to buy videogames. Boy, was I wrong. Turned out that they only got 24 Xbox 360s and that there were actually a line of people at 6 a.m. Whoops, there goes my plan.

But in hindsight, I'm now glad I didn't drop nearly $500 on the 360. After reading reports of the power supply unit overheating and other initial production problems, I'm glad not to be actually an early adopter. The only thing that I really looked forward to at the start was the media center capabilities of the 360. But, after further research, I realized that the good old original Xbox has also the same capability, albeit with some limitations. See my post on the Xbox Media Center Extender for more details.

So I'll be glad to wait until Costco replenishes their 360 supply (most likely in the spring) or even wait further until the PlayStation 3 arrives (which can mean a price cut for the 360). I'll also be glad to wait until Microsoft fixes that overheating problem. As long as Halo 2 works on the original Xbox, I can definitely wait.