Insomnic Dreams

Barnes & Noble has come out with their own eBook reader to compete against the Kindle and it was officially announced today. It is called Nook.

Here are the main features the Nook has over the Kindle.

• The Nook has Wi-Fi which besides being a fast connection also is enable to allow full book browsing while on the B&N wireless network in store.
• The Nook has touch screen navigation and a color LCD for library browsing and other display and navigation options.
• The Nook has an expanded memory slot to increase the storage space if necessary (or for managing sets of books).
• PDFs can be read natively (Kindle has to have the PDF converted – unless a hack is applied).
• Custom images for the “screen saver” (Kindle also needs a hack to do this).
• Multiple device sync for books including iPhone/iPod Touch, Blackberry, and Computer (Kindle only has iPhone/iPod Touch and Computer).
• Digital book lending is possible which could possibly allow for library ebook borrowing systems.
• The battery on the Nook is replaceable and there are some harware customization options (like colored backplates).
• The Nook runs an Android OS which could allow for many future development options.

The e-Ink displays are almost identical so the readability will be the same but this is true of almost all eReaders that use e-Ink technology so the difference in devices really does come down to features.

The Nook also has AT&T 3G built in just like the Kindle has the Sprint 3G so depending on your area, one wireless service may be a better option than another.

The only real winner here for the Kindle is the battery life (14 days vs 10 days) and the backing of Amazon… but the book prices are about the same and currently Barnes & Noble is boasting an opening digital library larger than Amazon’s so it will be interesting to see how that aspect shapes up.

The price is $259 and will be available in November. Barnes & Noble stores will be putting up displays in the next couple days so you can check out the device yourself and pre-order one if you like. That is also an advantage for the Nook – the ability to check it out before you buy it.

This device looks very cool and has many of the features that some Kindle owners have complained about lacking (which would be why they are on this device). It has good bookstore backing and already has accessories. I see no reason this device couldn’t outshine or at the very least provide excellent competition for the Kindle – and in technology, competition is a good thing for customers.

There is a relatively new site called Super User that has been developed by some very well known tech gurus including one of my favorite – How-To Geek. The site is a combination of  Digg/Reddit, wiki, and forum and at its core it allows you to ask a question and get answers back from the techie masses.

The site is specifically for hardware and software questions and more details about the types of questions and answers can be found in the Super User FAQ and About pages, but the basics are: if your computer is doing something you don’t understand or you have a question about using your computer, Super User is the place to go.

Besides just asking questions you can watch the hot topics to see what interesting items the Super User community is discussing as well as search through to see if someone else may have had the same question and already found an answer.

As a moderator, the How-To Geek has written up an excellent run down on what exactly the hope of Super User is and here is the line that make me truly support this site:

“Super User was created by a group of guys that really believe in putting the reader first.”

This site has the potential to be the best tech support resource on the internet with tons of common users and techie geeks working together to make computing just that much easier for us all.

So now all over the air (OTA) TV broadcasts are in a digital format and you’re wondering what you need to do to watch your stories. Well… to be honest there isn’t much you need to do. It isn’t nearly as complicated as it might all sound.

First of all, if you have cable or dish services you don’t need to do anything at all. Everything will move along the same as always.

The only thing that changes is the OTA reception. In order to get digital OTA you need to have 2 things:

1. An antenna
2. A TV that can translate the HD signal

Lets take care of part of that first issue right off the bat – if you already have an antenna that can receive UHF then you are done. There is no such thing as an HD antenna. All antenna’s work the same – the only difference between antennas is their reception range – which was always true anyways. The HD antenna thing is just a marketing spin to help sell antennas.

If you don’t already have an antenna and you want to receive OTA HD then you’ll probably want to pick one up. A site to check before purchasing is AntennaWeb. They are a non-profit site that helps you find what channels are in your area and what style of antenna might work best for you. Click on the “Choose an Antenna” button and enter your street address and zip code (the rest is up to you but it really needs those two things). Once it gives you your channel listings mark the “Show Digital Stations Only” option to see what HD broadcasts you can expect. The color codes match with standardized antenna ratings to match different distance levels and reception requirements. You can also click on the “View Street Level Map” to see which direction those channels are broadcast to help with orienting your antenna (if necessary).

When it comes time to buy an antenna, I recommend Antennas Direct. They have many models to choose from and a very helpful guide to help you choose what will work for you. Their ratings and information also match well with Antenna Web so you can use them together pretty easily.

Now you need a TV to watch those beautiful HD broadcasts on… or maybe not. If your TV is already HD  compliant (check your manual) then you are all set. If your TV says “HD Ready” then it can show high resolution video but it can’t decode the transmission – you’ll need a tuner. If you are planning on using a Tivo then your tuner is in there – otherwise you’ll need to purchase a tuner.

Now what about if you aren’t ready to buy a new TV and just want to use your old TV with the new DTV signal? No problem. The government is here to help (don’t hear that too often when it comes to technology). What you need is a converter box which will translate the digital broadcast signal into an analog signal.  Luckily you get two $40 coupons to help with that purchase. To get your coupon go to the coupon request site at DTV2009.gov and fill out the information. You’ll get your coupons in the mail in about a week. Once you get the coupon, you can check DTV2009 for a local retailer and compatible models but I found the easiest way is by using Amazon. They have a special page dedicated to the redemption and I was able to pick up one of the top Consumer Reports rated models called the Zinwell ZAT-970A for the low price of zero dollars thanks to the coupon and the free shipping. Once you receive the box you’ll hook the OTA antenna cable to the box and then a cable from the box to your TV and you’ll be all set.

Hopefully this has cleared up some of the HD confusion and not just added to it. If you need more information though, the DTV2009 and AntennaWeb sites are excellent resources without any marketing spin or you post in the comments and I’ll try to help you out. I did get OTA working at my home with mixed TVs and I’m very happy to not be paying a bill for excellent quality broadcast TV (nothing like getting 16:9 widescreen with 5.1 surround on Big Bang Theory).

Tweenbots are a social experiment created by NYU student Kacie Kinzer.

Here is Kacie’s description of her Tweenbots:
Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal.

Here is a short video showing the little guy in action and some of his helpers:
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.

Be sure to check out her site for more information about her social experiment and how people reacted to the robots.

Depending on who you talk to, Twitter is either extremely useful or just plain narcissistic babbling. Personally, I think Twitter can be both and it just depends on how you use it… but everyone has to agree that BakerTweet is just plain awesome:

Ars Technica has an article explaining why the megapixel ceiling has effectively been reached at 12MP. The basics are that the megapixel rating is only part of what determines the quality of a digital camera’s photo ability. There are many other factors to consider and now that the megapixel ratings are so high such as lense quality, zoom factors, image stabilization, GPS tagging and a host of other useful functions. There is a lot of good information in the article to help you understand more about digital cameras (especially if you are looking to purchase in the near future).

The other interesting camera related information is about a type of photo processing called Exposure Fusion. Digital Photography School has an article all about this photography process that combines different exposure levels into one photograph (similar to HDR).

Exposure fusion combines different exposures of the same image together so that bright areas don’t look washed out and detail areas look crisp with good contrast. Look through the article for more details about how this type of process could make for some nice looking pictures and also a program that can help you do this type of process automatically.

Common Craft has been on a roll lately. Here’s there latest and it’s just as good as the rest. This time it’s about computer hardware. This is very valuable information to have even as a basic computer user so give it a watch.

Today was Apple’s MacWorld Expo Keynote. This is typically where new releases and product updates are announced for Apple software and hardware.

This year, there were some interesting updates and I’ll just hit on some of the highlights.

iPhoto updated to include face recognition and geotagging as well as Flickr and Facebook direct uploading.

iMovie updated to have lots of new and more advanced editing features. Also includes “Jitter Correction” and easier user controls.

GarageBand now has a tutorial section which will help teach you how to play guitar and piano. This includes some pay lessons from artists such as Sting and Nora Jones.

iTunes store is changing and by the end of the first quarter all songs will be DRM free. This means no restrictions on the music you buy. The pricing is also changing to a 3-tier system of $.69, $.99, and $1.29. This one is cool because DRM is very icky.

iWork had lots of little updates but the big one is iWork.com site where online collaboration of documents can be done (like Google Docs).

MacBook Pro 17-inch was announced and detailed. One of the biggest advancements is an 8 hour battery life. Impressive.

So those are the basics. You can find more specific details at Apple.com.

Just in time for the holidays, Ars Technica has written up an excellent guide to the three major game consoles currently on the market. The three are Playstation3 (PS3), XBox 360, and the Wii.

PS3

XBOX 360

Wii

Each console has features that the others don’t and it is those specific features that will make your decision for you. Looking through the Ars Technica run down will give you an excellent overview of the different options and will give you access to the details. Be sure to keep an eye out at Ars Technica for their holiday gift guide as well to find some of the best deals.

UPDATE: The Ars Technica 2008 Holiday Gift Guide is up now.

Apple held an event today to introduce some new iPod stuff. To be honest, the “Let’s Rock” event was very lackluster. If you are interested in the presentation, you can hit the liveblogged highlights from Engadget.

There were a few interesting bits.
iTunes 8 and Genius
New iPod Nano
New iPod Touch

The Genius function could be fun but probably not groundbreaking. Be sure to turn off your Genius sharing if you don’t want to upload anonymous song usage information to Apple.

That’s really all there is to it. Not really exciting, but interesting if you are in the market for a new iPod.