New iPhone, Ancient Car

Like many overextended young people, I have a relatively new iPhone and a relatively old car. I love my car (a 93 Camry with 250k) and will probably drive it for another 100k miles (unless I get the oil changed, in which case I might get another 200k). Unlike many young people, I don't have a tape deck in my car to accommodate a cassette adapter, so my options for listening to my iPhone while driving have been limited.

For the longest time, I had an iRiver FM transmitter that I got for 30 bucks 3 years ago. About 3 months ago, I snagged the iRiver cable on something and broke the connection. I tried to repair it myself, but after a lot of black tape and aggravation, I decided a monkey with ADHD would have had better luck.

With no such monkey available, I went to buy a replacement transmitter, only to find that in the past 3 years, the FM transmitter people have recognized the profit potential in their little gadget, and have jacked the price up to the $60 range. Of course, there was no way I was going to pay $60 for technology that was $30 3 years ago.

After much searching, I came across a really crappy transmitter at Radio Shack for only $30. I bought it, and endured a couple of months of the worst podcast and music audio quality imaginable (and this device seemed to actually amplify the usual GSM pop you get with the phone).

Lately, I'd given up, and resorted to listening to NPR full time, missing all my favorite programs, falling behind on podcasts, and basically just coming up with excuses to use my wife's car (which has an aux jack). I had a glimmer of hope when I came across this article:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/the-complete-guide-to-iphone-car-integration/

However, after reading through all the variations of "get a cassette adapter" and "get an FMtransmitter", I gave up and listened to NPR for a few more weeks.

But then, today, I was wandering about in Best Buy, and got lost in that creepy car audio section. As I scanned the many decks on the wall, I noticed something that should have been obvious to me all along: even the crappiest audio decks these days have a built in aux jack!

So, in fact, I bought the crappiest audio deck for, you guessed it, $60, and went home, where I discovered that changing an audio deck in a '93 Camry is substantially more involved than changing a CD.

After grappling with Google and my screwdriver, I came across this site: http://www.installdr.com/
where I found the exact info I needed to help me change my deck. Took about 2 hours, and I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that the car won't explode in the middle of the night, but my iphone now plugs right into the car, no FM crap, no GSM pop, and only 1 cable (now I can worry about getting a nice little mount to keep it all tidy).

Lobby your Superdelegate

If you look at the delegate counts on news sites like CNN, it looks like Hillary Clinton is kickin' ass. Seems kind of odd, considering that she keeps basically tying for first with Barak Obama. Well, it turns out the disparity all comes down to superdelegates. I doubt the majority of voters, even primary voters, really understand how these superdelegates work. Here's a primer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdelegates

Now, unless I'm horribly mistaken, none of these committed superdelegates have signed any formal agreement (well, except in blood, standing over a steaming brazier of smoldering sparrow bones). It's not too late to lobby them and tell them to knock it off.

Below is a pro-Obama (or Edwards) letter for anyone who, like me, is unfortunate enough to have voted for a superdelegate who is in the Clinton camp (not sure if you did? check here) :. Feel free to copy and paste.


Dear [Superdelegate Title & Name],

I am writing to urge you to reconsider your superdelegate support for Senator Clinton. Although I am a great fan of former President Bill Clinton, and appreciate the many fine qualities of his administration, and though the senator's qualifications are impressive, I believe her two main opponents for the nomination, Senator Obama and former Senator Edwards, are more deserving of the nomination and of your support.

Though I believe all three candidates to be equally qualified, Senator Clinton's refusal to renounce her Iraq war vote disqualifies her from serious consideration. Of all the innumerable sins of the current administration, none is more grave than the arrogance and and stubbornness that have accompanied every policy and decision. This country cannot afford another president who puts her pride before the truth, who cannot admit a mistake, accept responsibility for her own failure, and seek a better path.

But perhaps an even more unsettling resemblance to the Bush administration, has been the senator's recent resort to republican fear tactics. Her repeated allusions to Gordon Brown and the London bombings are evidence that manipulating the base fears of Americans is not beneath her in achieving political aims. I believe, as do many of my neighbors and colleagues, that a politician must appeal to the best in our nature, not the worst.

I do not lightly dismiss the symbolism of political office being held by women. That a woman, especially such a qualified woman, should hold the highest office in the country, is simply long overdue. However, there are greater ills that plague these times than gender inequality, and more important principles on which we need to stand. In these times, the symbol of a "Barak Hussein Obama" simply means more than the symbol a "Hillary Rodham Clinton".

We voted for you, and rejoiced when you and your colleagues took the house from a crooked and bereft party. However, we did not vote for you simply because you were better than what was there (any number of crooks would have fit that bill). We voted for you because we expected you to reject, and not emulate, the sins of your opposition, to move the nation forward with integrity and honesty into a new era. In accepting your post, you have accepted the responsibility of making hard choices, even politically unpalatable choices.

Thank you,

XXXXXX

Eating a Starbucks sandwich without throwing up

I used to enjoy those chicken foccacia sandwiches they have at starbucks - you know, the kind that they have a shellacked version of in their display case. However, I always had a slight feeling of nausea about halfway through those sandwiches, which I could usually dismiss quickly by taking a swig of whatever coffee drink I'd ordered. Once, I tried eating one in the car while my wife was driving. She drives like shit, and when I point it out, she expresses her irritation with me by doing a lot of braking and jerky acceleration. Anyway, the car's pretty new, and so I didn't finish the second half of the sandwich, and just spent the rest of the drive with my eyes closed, trying not to say anything or think about the sandwich.

Ever since, I've been unable to face another Starbucks foccacia, which is probably for the best because they're overpriced and not all that good for you. My daughter loves them, though, and asks for one every time we're at Barnes and Nobles. She's five.

Today I was at Starbucks in the morning and noticed their breakfast sandwich display case, with similarly shellacked offerings, but in the breakfast genre. I decided to gamble, since I was hungry, and I ordered the turkey bacon & egg one. When I got it, I pried it open to inspect. Disappointment. The cheese was still cold in the center, as was the "turkey bacon". I handed it back and asked the guy if he could "cook it again". He did, and I was pleased with the result. I could tell the other customers were annoyed that I had distracted him from preparing their venti ammacchiato's, but I didn't care. I suspect some of them will try this in the future, and will annoy other customers. I ate the turkey bacon sandwich, and didn't vomit, but it cost too much.

Living with the Archos 604 wifi

I've now had the Archos 604 WiFi for about a week. Here are my observations:

Battery life: I've gone crazy with this thing, playing with the wifi and watching videos. While the battery performance is fine for a movie, I'm clearly not going to be able to watch several movies and do loads of heavy websurfing between charges. Also, the usb charging is slow, and you need to make sure you're using a fully powered USB port (some of those front-mounted ports on PCs don't deliver the power). On the other hand, I can swap batteries (try that on an iPod) if I want to buy an extra one, and the DVR station, which I'm tempted to buy, says it charges the unit quickly.

Carrying around: It's cool in New York this time of year, and I've got plenty of pockets to accommodate the archos. Still, it's big, and if I'm not planning on watching movies, I leave it at home and take my gmini 402 with me (which can watch all the same movies, if I'm in a pinch!). Still, I bought the 604 specifically for the gym and trips and it's been perfect for that.

Watching movies: I like to watch a movie or tv show while I'm doing some form of cardio (elliptical, arc trainer, etc.). While I used to be able to tolerate 25 minutes of such exercise, I now routinely spend an hour since that's also become my TV time. There are a bunch of shows I've gotten into this way (and which I never would have bothered with if not for tvrss, but that's a different story). While I used to have no trouble working out and watching shows on the gmini, it was awkward to control while moving about. The 604 touchscreen, in that respect, is a godsend. When I want to pause, I just tap the screen. When I want to timeshift, I just drag my finger on the screen, and even sweaty and off-balance I have no problem. The screen size, needless to say, is a massive improvement, and given the distance from my eyes, is much more watchable than the TVs mounted in the gym.

The Touchscreen: After reading post after post on digg and engadget about Apple's secret plans for a touch screen, I can now let out a satisfied "Yawn". In fact, with the Archos touchscreen, my last reason to covet an iPod (the clickwheel) is totally gone. When you timeshift a movie by dragging your finger across the screen, controlling it with to-the-second precision by simply rocking your fingertip, you'll understand. I do like the sidebuttons when I need precise, unambiguous control, since I do get more misses and errors on the touchscreen (though it's far and away more accurate for me than the iPod scrollwheel), but I could easily live without the buttons.


The DVR is calling: Archos has a DVR cradle for $100. It turns your 604 into a programmable DVR. It comes with a remote control and has its own IR emitter for controlling your cable box. I'm one of those people who can't get their mind around paying for tiVo every month (I never paid a monthly fee to use my VCR), so this looks like a great option, especially since I'll be able to grab my recorded shows and take them with me. I'm curious to see if the device can provide time-shifting the way a tivo can.

Unpacking the Archos 604 WiFi

Every year, for my birthday, my wife gets me exactly what I think I want, and then watches as I return it and spend a little more for the thing I really want. Last year it was an iPod, which got returned when I realized it couldn't play divx avi's. Its replacement was an Archos gmini 402, which not only plays the formats I want, but has all kinds of built-in goodies for recording audio, which turned out to be really useful for me.

This year, I thought I wanted a Zune. They looked so lovely, with big, bright screens and "wifi" that I began dropping hints left and right as my birthday drew near. My joy at receiving the thing vanished quickly, however, as the Zune software crashed my PC, and as some due diligence made it evident to me that it would not now or ever play any of my existing media without transcoding. So it went back. Sorry microsoft.

Disappointed, I turned once again to the Archos website, where I met and fell in love with the 604 wi fi. At about $430, this is not a device I would have ever bought myself, so I needed to do some quick rationalizing, which went like this:

• I have a Zune, which cost $250, or about $265 with tax. It's going back (never mind the 15% restocking fee)
• The difference in price, after returning the Zune, is therefore $165 (never mind tax and shipping on the Archos)
• I'll use it heavily for work and write it off, saving about 140 bucks worth of taxes in the long run.
• 165-140 = 15. Who wouldn't pay $15 for such a kick-ass device?

With the rationalizing out of the way, I clicked around hastily and entered my CC numbers before reason could return. 24 hours later, the DHL man arrived at my door.

What follows are my unpacking photos and first impressions of the 604 WiFi:

	Here is the box. woohoo.
	Here is the archos sitting in the box. Woohoo again.
	Here it is in my hand. Yeah, it's big (the Archos, not the hand, although the hand is a respectable size - not freakishly large, but not petite either, though I've been told my fingers are slender). I'd been worried that the thing would feel too big to carry around, but it seems just fine for me.
	Here's all the crap it came with. The box said it included two stylii, but at first I could find only one. It took a day for me to realize that the second one was tucked into a little sleeve inside the "pouch". The cable is definitely Archos proprietary, which is disappointing since the 402 had a standard cable. However, this cable does both the charging and connection, which the other didn't. The gray stand-looking thing is just an adapter for the DVR product which is not included (lists for $100 - I have to get out my rationalizing calculator again). The quick start guide is glossy and professional, but the supplemental insert about calibrating the screen looked like it came off my color inkjet.
	Here is the case, which is a larger version of the case that came with my 402. The box says it's a pouch. I think Archos sells a more sophisticated case, but who needs it.
And now the good stuff
	Bootup, about 15 seconds. Definitely longer than my 402. backlight auto off can be changed but defaults to 30 seconds.
_ _ _	First thing I wanted to try out was the wifi. Doubletapped the browser icon on the home screen and in about 20 seconds it had found my wireless network and let me connect to it. Then the browser launched and took me to the Archos website (duh). I opened the menu with the side button and chose "enter URL" and got a keypad to enter a new address.
	Over the wireless, I navigated to my shared video folder from my desktop and launched an episode of battlestar galactica (divx AVI). This was definitely the WOOHOO moment for me! That video needed NO transcoding and didn't even need to be on my Archos. It played right over the wireless without a skip or a glitch. by tapping or dragging my finger over the screen I was able to pause and fast forward effortlessly.
	For files stored locally on the Archos, you can see animated thumbnails of the video, such as this episode of Extras at the top.
	I don't typically care much about carrying photos around on a device like this, but this interface is pretty sweet. You get this photo "wall" and you just tap the picture you want to see. using your finger or the stylus, you can flip to other pictures or rotate the current picture with intuitive cross-the-screen touch gestures.
	Here's the 604 next to its little brother, the 402. The screen size on the 604 is almost the size of the 402 itself!
	Here's a back view of the kickstand, which is actually a really nifty feature.

Random observations
I love this device and can't understand why apple and MS are so slow in implementing wireless devices like this, and why they won't support divx. I'm sure the store has something to do with it, since they need music companies to sign with them and therefore the best they can do with wireless is to cripple it with DRM. Companies like Archos don't have this constraint, and can do what they want, which means the consumer wins.

Issues: Some downsides to consider - this is not a tiny device. It's smaller than a moleskine notebook, which I carry around comfortably, but if you're not accustomed to having substantial pockets, a bookbag, or a purse you're not going to love this. Battery life is VERY limited if you're streaming video over wireless, and the included cable attaches at the bottom, making it impractical to leave the archos sitting upright (I'll probably mod a stand out of wood or just buy a charging stand or the DVR unit). There is NO slot for the stylus. The device is rugged, and clearly the sensitivity of the screen is intended for fairly aggessive finger control, so you could get by without the stylus altogether.

Bottom line: If you're tired of waiting for apple to release a touchscreen ipod and you don't want the RIAA and MPAA to dictate what your device can do with it's 802.11, this is the device for you. If you want a device that can act as a tivo, but that you can grab and go with on your way to the gym, get this and the DVR station. If you need help justifying the expense, look for my "rationalizing calculator", which will be shipped around the same time as Windows Vista.

Cheers