louietran.com domain registered!
I think I tried registering for this domain name a few years ago and wasn’t able to. But today, just for the hell of it, I checked and was surprised that it was available! Not that big of a deal but it’s kinda cool to have my name as a .com!
I’m actually motivated to post more on this site again so I’ll work on an article of my current gear and have it up sometime this week.
Skype Wrongfully Terminating Accounts
Of course this is a bunch of bull. I only use Skype to call my wife when she travels to Hong Kong, in-laws in Taiwan, and relatives around the world.
Check out the Skype forums here: http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=393071
UPDATE: Skype has e-mailed me back and apologized saying that this was an error. So everyone with this issue, please e-mail customer service immediately!
Independence Day Video Created Entirely on iPhone 4!
I created this video entirely on the iPhone 4 using the camera, video recorder and iMovie!
It’s a new Mac! Of course we have to make an event out of it!
Well today was the launch day for the iPad and I have mine. Here’s the unboxing…
I’ll have the actual review up soon. I’m going to play with the damn thing now!
Archos 5 Internet Tablet Review
I had my HP Mini 110 Notebook for a few months and it was pretty nice to take on my trip to Dubai since it was so small. Unfortunately it’s usefulness pretty much ended there since I mostly use my Macbook Pro for everything. What I needed was a portable media device that was small enough to hold in one hand and at least do a decent job of surfing the internet. The netbook in a practical sense can do most of the basic functions of a notebook, and as Steve Jobs once said, it doesn’t do any of those well. Watching HD videos on a netbook was very unsatisfactory especially in HD and it kills the experience. Then I stumbled on the Archos 5 Internet Tablet while walking around Best Buy so I bought it out of curiosity and have been very happy with it since.
The Archos Internet Tablet is an Android powered, feature packed portable media player that plays just about every popular multimedia format from AVIs (including Divx and Xvid), MPEG2/4, WMV, MKV, H.264, MP3, AAC, WMA, etc… and does so exceptionally WELL. In fact, it can manage HD media without any stuttering. There’s also a built in FM tuner and you can buy a DVR for this if you want to record and schedule your TV shows by connecting to your cable box with component or HDMI cable. There are so many features to list and so many things you can do on the device since it’s an Android player so I’m going to mainly focus on how well it does in real world every day use.
Jabra Halo Bluetooth Headset – RETURNED!
I just returned this yesterday for two main reasons:
1. Poor Call Quality – I was OK with the sound quality when I was playing music on my iPhone or on my MacBook Pro but when I took it out while driving or simply walking, other callers complained of echo and had difficulty hearing me. This was tested on multiple people, carriers, and phones. It was also hard hearing people’s voices as well when in an outdoor environment. Noise cancellation feature was non-existent and didn’t really work as advertised.
2. Poor Quality and Placement of Function Buttons – This just drove me crazy. The buttons were not only poorly place, but the response on them was extremely erratic! When you can finally find the larger round button to answer the phone, it doesn’t work unless you press exactly in the middle! Not only that, the button was flimsy and felt like it was going to break soon. Also, when trying to adjust the volume (when you can find it!), it’s a crap shoot on whether or not it will work and sometimes by accident, you will increase or decrease the volume no matter what you do!
Went straight back to Best Buy! I need to find a better headset.
Jabra Halo Bluetooth Headset – First Gadget Purchase of the Year!
I went to Best Buy last night looking for new headphones to use on my MacBook Pro, Touch Pro 2, and iPhone 3G so I can easily work out (yes New Years resolution like everyone else is to lose weight) and listen to music at the same time in the geekiest fashion… wirelessly with bluetooth! The Motorola ROKR that I had purchased a few years ago still works but it gets very uncomfortable to use after 30 minutes of use.
Pairing the headset with all three devices has been easy and the foam earpieces have been very comfortable to use. I also love the fact that it easy folds together for easy storage and includes a carrying pouch. The sound quality is decent but the bass that it produces is somewhat weak. Also the touch volume controls are a pain to use because of the way they are laid out which is narrowly on the edge of the right earpiece so it’s either too hard to find or too sensitive. I haven’t fully tested the call quality yet but it does understand my voice commands just fine.
I’m going to be taking this thing out for a spin now and see if this is worth keeping!
Last time I posted the Current Gear that I use on a day to day basis. That was about seven months ago and I’ve practically upgraded everything that I got from my desktop replacement notebook to my smartphone. I’m a gadget addict and I can’t seem to stay with a device for longer than six months. This is what’s currently what I can’t live without:
1. HP Pavilion DV2-1030US – If I was to asked to describe this with three words, I would say “Netbook on Steroids!” This is what replaced my TX2500 tablet because it’s even lighter and is more practical for my needs. I didn’t really need the DVD drive at all times and didn’t utilize the tablet feature as much as I thought so the DV2 was the best way to go for me. This little warrior outperforms every single netbook currently in the market in terms of performance and the size isn’t really that much bigger. It’s only one inch thick and weighs 3.95lbs so you can easily throw it in a backpack and carry it with you especially when you want to travel light. It also comes with an external USB powered DL-DVDRW drive so you can use it just in case. I take this with me when I go traveling and leave the heavier MacBook Pro at home but it runs every application that I need, plays any video file I throw at it, and runs a lot of games just fine. The only issue that I have is the batter will last on average about 3 hours so it won’t last through a long plane ride.
2. HTC Touch Pro 2 - I just recently replaced my THIRD Touch Pro and upgraded to the Touch Pro 2 and have been amazed by it since day one. Without any ROM customizations, this phone performs like a champ right out of the box and the TouchFlo 3D 2 interface is very responsive and beautifully designed. Many reviews claim that this is the BEST Windows Mobile Device in the US market right now and I couldn’t agree more. This device is an incarnation of everything that people wished was on the original Touch Pro and then some. It’s about the same size, screen size, shape, and weight as an iPhone but it has a keyboard and a tilt-able display. I use this phone on the weekdays for work (iPhone for weekends) to send e-mails and text messages back and forth and absolutely love how easy it is to type on the keyboard. A nice addition to this is the ability to link your contacts with their FaceBook profiles so all your friends or contacts will have their FaceBook pictures and info synced to the phone. The Sprint GPS Navigation software comes in very handy to get directions since I’m on the road a lot and the standard sized headphone jack is a nice addition for the Sprint version so I can listen to streaming music, or media from the memory card or YouTube videos without disturbing anyone. I can’t wait for them to come out with a Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade for this. Overall, an awesome gadget for the mobile executive.
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