Well you didn’t think I’d give up did you? After the disaster with Linksys, I admit I was pretty bummed, but, with Christmas on the way, I figured there was no better time to prove that it’s just as good to receive as it is to give. So I logged onto to CompUSA online and ordered a Motorola wireless “G” Access Point and PCI card. Those of you who can read real small (or right click on the image and select the view option) will immediately note that the AP picture at the top, left, doesn’t have a Motorola brand name. Well, it seems that even though CompUSA’s website said “ships with 24 - 48 hours,” what they actually meant is that one or both of these are out of stock.

Now I had ordered these in plenty of time to stick them in Santa’s sack just before I pushed him down the chimney. However, as the days worn down and I didn’t receive a shipping notice from CompUSA, I sent them an e-mail. “How come?” I asked. Two days later I received a reply and that’s how I knew about the backorder. So I sent them another note (y’know, I think my writing style is sometimes affected by over-exposure to “Alice’s Restaurant” as a fragile youth; one of the guys at college, Rich Berrera, would sing that song from start to finish daily, if not hourly), “So when?” I asked this time. After three days and no reply I sent a third note: “So cancel.” And I was told that the order wouldn’t be officially canceled until I received an e-mail from CompUSA telling me it had been. Three days, no notice. Christmas was now three days away. Have I mentioned that I really hate CompUSA at this point? Anyway, checked the order status manually and, seeing as how the word “canceled” appeared under the word “status,” I virtually jogged over to Buy.com and picked up the Netgear gear I needed. The order confirmation was e-mailed to me with 5 minutes, the shipping confirmation arrived two hours later, and the stuff showed up three days that –December 27th, my new date for Christmas, 2004.

It took five minutes to install the AP, another 5 to install the PCI card. I spent the next two hours downloading XP SP2, downloading the Netgear software patch that was supposed to make the PCI card work with SP2 now that it didn’t, and then uninstalling SP2. (I don’t care what they say, it don’t work with SP2, no-how, no-way, no-where.)

And I’m unwired. It’s a good, serene feeling. Now, once the spring shows up and things get a bit warmer, I’ll have to try setting up a system in the Basement of Doom & Pepsi Cola to see if it can connect to the network here.

The folks over at PVRblog have a great look at Motorola’s new dual-tuner HDTV DVR for Comcast. While people are pronouncing my beloved TiVo dead, this unit is pretty powerful looking. Here’s what they said:

“While almost all reviews of cable company DVRs have been mostly poor, due to bad software, bad hardware, or an overall low quality experience, this one looks like a serious TiVo fighter, since it packs a lot of features you just can’t get in a TiVo.

“Dual tuners for cable - DirecTV users with TiVo know the joy of this. Basically season pass conflicts are rare once you’ve got two tuners going at once, plus you can watch other live programs while things tape, which comes in handy. Records HDTV - only 15 hours of HD content max, but there are only about ten channels on Comcast systems so it’s probably not too much of a problem. 60 hours of regular TV recording - pretty good number, probably using a 80 to 120 Gb drive to fit that much standard TV and HDTV.”

Read the Complete PVRblog Review Here
Read Our Review on TiVo

For those of you running into giibberish (other than what we intentionally write) when viewing Alice and Bill.com, the official word from Blogger is: “Blog*Spot blogs occasionally render a massive amount of gibberish in Mozilla (due to a complex bug involving gzip). The current workaround is to force-reload the page.”

Which translates to: “We know there’s a problem, we haven’t figured it out yet, but, most of the time, forcing a reload makes a difference. Mozilla is great, nonetheless.” And we all know it’s more than occasionally. Well, Firefox does have its pluses, but what it’s missing is a rack record. No big deal. That’s why I swore off buying cars in their first year of production. Hopefully it’ll be solved in the next release, real soon now.

Until then, well, what can I say… What the Bloggies don’t mention is whether or not there’s something that will specifically trigger the gibberish (other than adult beverages), so I’m pushing the question to them. If I get an answer and it’s something we can do (or not do, as the case may be) we’ll do our best to get it done or, er, undone. Thanks for your patience and your support.

This is definitely not for everyone, but with all the lost or stolen luggage this Christmas season (my sister and brother in law are on day 5 with no bags) this little number intrigued me.

The Yantai Qinglu Automatization Co. has developed a briefcase that will emit a piercing alarm if you stray from it while in “secure” mode. If someone has walked off with your case, a remote will activate an electrical shock. Or as they explained: “When you leave the case to settle other business (for instance: registration, shopping and going out), you just set the case in “stealing-proof” function, and bring the remote control with you to settle business. In case the robber or thief touches any place of the case, the case will produce sound alarm and electric shock.”

Of course, I can’t imagine getting this through airport security, and I pity the poor hotel maid who bumps into the case while cleaning your room, but I guess this will appeal to those who carry around a lot of cash or valuables and love to feel like James Bond.

At Last! Dept: Sharp is onto to something and this one may finally do the trick. The Sharp CE-MR01 adds your TV to your home network.

To date, streaming music to a TV or to a stereo is possible with a 802.11g network but video is still the holy grail of home networking. This unit supposedly will work with all three wireless mode, though I am betting that a and g networks will be the only true contenders. The bad news: the $389 device is only available in Japan.

Alice gets a Pssst from Bill: If you need something here and now, and for well less than $200, try Actiontec’s Wireless Digital Media Player. It uses 802.11b (that doesn’t matter a spit for most video playback) and PCMag says the setup is complex enough that it’s probably best for the technically savvy. How’s that for a challenge?

Sony has developed a new camcorder that burns directly to a DVD. The device, Sony model DCR-DVD7E looks like a CD Walkman with a lens, but burns video to DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD +RW formats.

According to Mike’s List, “The unit reportedly features a 10x optical zoom, a 2.5 in. LCD screen and weighs some 360 grams. The release said the Sony DCR-DVD7E would be available in May, but it didn’t say how much it would cost.”

I find these devices interesting but more for a low tech user. I remember the Sony digital camera that wrote to a floppy. My mother loved it and in fact, I think she still uses it today. The rest of us like to edit before we burn to a still-costly DVD disc, but Sony is smart to target those who just want raw footage on a disc and no messy video editing and rendering, please.

From the mouth of Bill (Ewwwww….): Depending on the media used (DVD-RAM, DVD +/-RW), there is editing available on most of the higher-end mini-DVD cameras. If this thing ends up in the $600 - $900 range, it should also. The problem is, it’s all delete edits. Also, although the TV commercials make it look like you can yank the disk out of your camera and pop it into you DVD player, you need to finalize the disc first. That closes the disc to further writing forever (no matter how much is or isn’t on one) and these mini DVD discs aren’t cheap. A few reviews you might find interesting:

Sony DCR-DVD100
Sony’s DCR-DVD300
Sony DCR-DVD101

All tend to agree that they’re not yet ready for prime time but do offer the lowest artifact count (none, it’s a disc) and the longest archival life (because it’s a disc).

Samsung announced today that it was planning to invest $275 million to build a second LCD plant. According to CIO Today, “Samsung and Japanese rival Sony Corp. have established a joint venture for the world’s first seventh-generation LCD production line in Asan, about 120 kilometers (70 miles) south of Seoul. The plant is due to begin production in the first half of 2005. The construction of a second seventh-generation LCD line is in response to the rapid growth in demand for 30-inch and larger LCD televisions, it said.”

Alice Says: if you want a spectacular LCD monitor, I urge you to look at the Samsung 213 T. The 21 inch LCD blew me out of the water with its overall brightness, crisp whites, jet blacks, and a razor sharp resolution. You can rotate the display and use it like a long tall page for web browsing, or just wallow in all the screen space. My complete review is here. Did I mention it was less than $950?

November of 2004 saw a momentous occurrence that completely skipped our notice: The first fatality of a Segway rider.

Also according to AutoWeek, The gentleman who invented the Segway drives a Hummer.