Griffin iTrip & PowerJolt Dual, iPhone 3rd Gen.

thanks to my folks for their recent gift of the TomTom (TT), i find myself having to think of future changes to a few things within my car to accommodate my toys. you see my car only has one 12V outlet. it seems that my iPod, and now my TT will have to fight over this outlet.

or...

thanks to Griffin Technology they have part of the solution that may just be the answer to my trivial dilemma.  the first is Griffin's iTrip. this is an FM transmitter that attaches to the dock connector of all current iPods including the iPod Touch. what's convenient about it - aside from the FM transmitter - is the conversion of the iPod dock into the universally acceptable USB connector for charging.

at this point i can make due using the TT's USB car plug to charge both the TT and iPod/iPhone simply by swapping the cable between the two devices to charge up the battery. however, in the event i find myself needing to charge both simultaneously the second solution is Griffin's PowerJolt Dual Universal, a 12 volt adapter designed to provide two 5 volt USB ports to charge any USB powered devices. one for the TT, and one for the iTrip attached to my iPod.

i have a Motorola RAZR cell, and from time to time i have run out of charge while on the road. however, i don't charge my RAZR in the car, because Motorola requires me to have a proprietary car charger; even though the RAZR is powered via a USB connector. simply connecting any USB charger will result in the RAZR reporting unauthorized charger. Motorola sucks ass. this is why i'm looking forward to dumping the RAZR, and replacing it with an iPhone. that plus the convenience of having both my cell and iPod in one device.

so the other part of the solution to my trivial dilemma is converging my cell with my iPod. hence the iPhone. though, not noted on their site, i suspect that the iTrip will work with an iPhone. this is based on the fact that the iPod Touch and iPhone are (for the most part) identical, and, therefore, should work fine. my desire is to jump on the iPhone bandwagon once the 3rd generation is released; assuming that Apple decides to increase the storage capacity to 32GB. which is more than enough storage for just my favorite tunes, pics, and videos.

in an effort to advise me on further convergence i know that someone can argue, "the iPhone can work as a GPS. no need for the TT." yeah, well, it doesn't. that is to say that it's positioning system does not work with a satellite, but triangulation system dependent on cell phone towers. so it's not that accurate or dependable unless you're in a heavily populated metropolitan area. i don't think it works very well if you go on a road trip across the county.

anyway, this is just me being a gadgeteer. i just love how this stuff works together.

peace,
@riel

A TomTom for my Birthday. Thanks Mom and Dad.

my parents are full of surprises. in recent years for Christmas or on my birthday they have always asked what i would like as a gift. i never ask for much except for their company, and (of course) food. but my folks being who they are (my folks) always came up with some gift to give me such as socks. this past Christmas they got me some after-shave splash by Adidas. my folks are modest people with little means to get me anything impressive for these occasions. i always accept their gifts with full thanksgiving along with their blessings. but this year my folks went way above expectations for my birthday. they almost convinced me that i was getting more after-shave, but after the first tearing the wrapping paper i began to sense some deception.

in my hands - after fully disrobing the box of its festive paper - was a TomTom XL 340-S navigation device. i was so stoked! first of all that my parent would ever get this kind of gift. they explained to me that it would be good for me to have one of my own instead of having to ask my brother the use of his Garmin. second the fact they they got me the top model from the XL 300 series. it just goes to show how much they know me.

this thing is so cool. 4.5" touch screen, voice assisted navigation... it does pretty much what most navi-gps's do. it takes on a simplistic look with nothing more than the USB connection for power and data transfer when connected to a PC to update the map. the absence of useless "bells and whistles" are fine by me; i don't care much for some models that utilizes SD card slots for MP3 or video playback. kinda defeats the purpose of what a navi-gps was devised to do.

there's a Windows app i'm, supposed to install in order to update the maps stored within the unit. i've yet to do that, but i will soon enough. my dad was a little concerned that the map installed wouldn't cover Puerto Rico (PR). on the box it clearly states US, Canada, Mexico. apparently some of the units at the store make the point to specify coverage over the tiny island; not this one. but after checking out the map my dad was pleased to see that PR was well covered.

my only concern is the power requirements to run this thing. i'm already using the 12V plug to operate my iPod's Kensington charger/FM transmitter. i have figured out a solution - i'll reveal it later - but until the need arises i'll simply keep the 340-S tucked away. besides, it has a built-in battery that will run for 3 hours according to the specs, and i doubt i have anywhere to go that requires more than a three hour round trip.

thanks Mom and Dad, i love you both very much.

peace,
@riel

Anime Boston 2009, A Go!

well another year for Anime Boston has come and gone. and i, for one, am glad i got to partake in the festivities and with my good friend stacey. first we managed to get through the registration line without too much stress, got our pass and swag bag, then we indulged in some lunch - what else, but Japanese - at Wagamama. after lunch we headed back into the con. our first stop was the dealer's room where we were overwhelled at how many more vernders there were this year than in past years all selling the same things, and few - if any - were selling hardly any video game music CD's.

what the hell? oh well.

following the dealer's room, we headed to the main event where a concert - perfromed by the Video Game Orchestra (VGO) - was taking place. we walked in while they were in the middle of playing the main theme to Chrono Trigger. following their performance, a female trio vocal group by the name Kalafina performed songs from their self-titled album.

stace and i left after three songs and made our way to the artist alley where stace wanted to check out the freelance artist. i personally founds a few pieces that i would have wanted, but i didn't have any cash available. i mean i had money to spend, but these guys weren't equiped to take plastic.

we left the convention and headed out to the food court of the Copley Mall to grab some dinner, and just take a breather.

we got back to the con just in time to attend the main event of the evening; the cos-player masquerade. the event was hosted by a "Justin Timberlake" look-a-like who did a well enough job entertaining the crowd with his comedic antics in the beginning, the end, and in between each cos-play walk-by and skits. the guy was charming and likable; a vast improvement from the hostess in past events.

as for the cos-players, my only comment is how dedicated these participants are when it comes to perfecting their costumes. talks about the attention to details. most of the skits performed were entertaining. some didn't make much sense to me, but then i don't follow anime that much anymore. i think the biggest kick i got was the homage to classic video games. seeing a cardboard cut-out of Pac-Man running across the stage was awesome.

following the masquerade was the announcements of the AMV contest winners. they replayed all the winning AMV's in every category. only one stood out for me that were very impressive, a little busy visually, but fun to watch. i came out of that with a re-found interest in continuing my AMV projects (which was taken a back seat).

the main event ended around 11:00pm. we decided to see what else to do. the only thing left was to visit the video game room and check out the games available to play. the video game rooms were in to separate locations. we spent a little over a half an hour in both rooms before we ultimately decided to call it quits and go home.

it was a long and tiresome day, but at least we got to attend and have some fun. i didn't get to take many pics of cos-player, but it's kinda hard to justify when i don't know what i'm taking a picture of, and little embarrassing when i have to ask what character they're dressed up as. but i did take an hour worth of videos of some of the main events. hopefully i'll get to post those and share in the experience. well, until next year.


peace,
@riel

Weapon Of Choice! - Extended Edition

GT was one of those BMX companies during the 1980's that always captivated my attention because of the unique design they pioneered starting from a practical need. two icons of the BMX world, Bob Morales and Eddie Fiola are credited with the design of the original 1984 GT Performer, the first freestyle BMX by GT. Eddie wanted to mount the front caliper brakes behind the forks and to spin the handlebar a full 360 without obstruction from the front brakes. thus came the famous Performer's down-tube bend from the neck that allow enough clearing to do just that. this unique design did not stop there with GT.

the next iteration of the GT Performer was the Pro Freetyle Tour (a.k.a. Pro Performer). the 1987 design was more sophisticated than before featuring a second bend on the down-tube, and a "pass-through" channel through the down-tube for the rear break line. also was the fatter, bolder top-tube freestyle platform. the frame design was years ahead of itself, and , i feel, is more attractive than today's BMX bikes. it was ridden by my favorite and most influential professional freestyle factory rider Martin Aparijo. this was the bike i wanted back then, and still want to this day.

the closest i came to owning one was after purchasing the 1990 GT Agressor. it featured the double bend down-tube, but it was missing the freestyle platform to make way for a bash guard. it was a beautiful bike, and i regret ever selling it. however it wasn't as stylish as the Pro Freestyle Tour, and it lacked some of the pro-level features such as the 990 mounts for both the front and rear breaks.

today i am a proud owner of the long distant cousin to the Pro Freetyle Tour. my 1999 GT Tour 2 is a heavy beast with fat 4130 chrome-moly steel tubing running from the neck of the frame to the rear drop-outs. also made from chrome-moly are the forks, handlebars, crank arm, seat post, and axle extenders. it's gotta be at least 40lbs. it's among the last of it's kind built in the USA out of Santa Ana, California. it's 10 years old and it rides like it came right off the shelf from the bike shop where i got it, and - as if history couldn't repeat itself - it's design rivals that of today's BMX bikes.

here are some detailed photos i took of my GT Tour 2; a complete factory original with exceptions to the bar-ends and the GT Airbag tires. i do have them; i just just didn't want to damage the GT bar-ends any further, and the tires were pretty much worn.


so long as i'm allowed ride i hope to never part from it.


peace,
@riel

Microsoft Needs To Simplify

up until now have written entries regarding my joys and pains of Apple and their computers. i have yet to write about Microsoft, and the truth is i have been a Windows user since the days of MS-DOS6.22/ Windows3.1 way back in 1993. since then i had made every effort to learn about computers; how they work, all of the hardware that makes up a computer, and using tech lingo such as, "you have to modify the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS file." remember that? actually that last part didn't come in handy until two years later when i started working for a multimedia retail store called Media Play. ah, those were the days.

over the years i have moved up from Windows 3.1 to 95 when i made the transition from a Packard Bell 486SX to an HP Pavillion with a Pentium 133MHz, from 95 to 98 when i made the trasition from the Pavillion to a Gateway with a Pent-3 running at 450MHz, and finally leap-frogging over Windows ME and upgrading to XP Pro with my Gateway.

anyway, the point is before i became Mac, i was Windows, and still am thanks to Parallels Desktop.

i never had any major issues with Microsoft except for one; their insistence of marketing multiple versions of Windows with every release. this wasn't such a big deal with XP. three simple and self-explained choices; Home Edition, Profession, and Media Center. but with Vista it became a little more complicated with 4 versions which broke down the Home version into Premium & Basic. instead of having a Media Center edition, Microsoft included media center functionality with the Home Premium version. and the Home Basic is just the core functioning O/S of Vista - stripped down - to address the lack of hardware support some user's systems didn't have for Home Premium and over. and it seems that Windows 7 will be broken down into these versions... again.

**sigh**

for tech geeks this isn't a major issue, because we can handle the unexpected; if any issues arise, we know where to find support and information. but the average user isn't a tech geek (not in the truest sense anyway). they are made up of consumers who expect technology to work as designed and function flawlessly, but it isn't always the case.

Microsoft has a history of "copying" Apple, with respect to the user interface. why don't they "copy" Apple's marketing approach to selling one version of their operating system? the "one size fits all" approach. sell the Ultimate edition only, and during the installation have a function to determine how much stuff can be installed based on the system's hardware profile. or simply sell the Professional edition and open up a Windows Market Place. allow user to pay and download extra features - much like the iPhone App Store - such as the media center or additional security functionality.

i don't blame switchers who complain about their troubled past with Windows, or any users who thinks Microsoft is too big for itself; so big in fact that it's ability to maintain a high level of product quality and customer satisfaction to their retail consumers is anything but high. case in point: Windows Mobile 6.5 not being completely ready prior to its release.

i will give Microsoft big props for allowing all users to play with Windows 7 as a release candidate for a year prior to the official release to work out any real-world bugs. it gives us users a chance to see what Windows can really be and do, and gives Microsoft plenty of feedback from user's experiences. this approach is very smart as it will give them time to correct as many issues as possible assuring a gold level release when the time comes.

i downloaded Windows 7 RC and began running it via Parallels Desktop, and i have to say Windows 7 is fast. real fast. so far my personal user experience with 7 is much better than Vista.

the only thing that would ruin this is another multi-version marketing approach that will do nothing but confuse the average consumer, who will scratch their heads and wonder which version to buy.

Microsoft, if you're reading this...

SIMPLIFY; SELL ONE VERSION OF WINDOWS 7!!!

trust me, users will love and/or appreciate you for it.

peace,
@riel

Anime Boston 2009

anime boston is on the way, and i have to say that i'm kinda looking forward to it. it's been a while since i've attended, and after last year's fiasco with the registration line i decided to be forgiving and make another attempt. besides, it beats having to travel to another state to attend a con when you don't have the money to spare.i did not submit an AMV this year. partly due to a lack of motivation, but mostly because i don't have better equipment to do it with. i know i've bitched about not having a better machine, and perhaps some additional softwares, but it's all about progressing to the next level. i haven't abandoned the hobby, it's just taken a back seat for now. i'm still editing videos, they're just a little casual - perfect for my current setup. if or when i do get a new machine w/ better apps, or if i decide to suck it up and work with what i have, i'll begin work on the next AVM. until then i think i'll enjoy the this years entries and perhaps get some inspiration.

i'll be attending with my friend stacey, and only saturday. i was thinking of doing both friday and saturday, but at this moment i think i can only take just the one day for this year. i'm sure most of my time will be spent in the dealer's room looking for any Final Fantasy music, probably take in a few hours of the video room features, attend a few panel discussions, and finish the day with the main event.

i'll take along my camera for pics and vids. last time i was there i didn't take a whole lot. perhaps if i take enough video shots perhaps i'll edit something together.

well, i'll let you guys know how it went.

peace,
@riel