I've been too busy playing with some new toys to post recently, so I thought I'd fess up and admit what I've been playing with. (Ok, I've had some real work to do, too. But who wants to talk about work?)
The Segway
Ok, this thing is too cool. I was actually quite dubious at first, before trying one. When they became available on Amazon.com, I thought, "Gee, another gadget that every high-tech geek is going to buy. I'm not getting one." Well, I finally succumed to temptation and bought one about a month ago.
You've probably heard it all before. This thing is cool. I'm not going to repeat all the neat technology and mechanical engineering that went into it. But the surprising thing is that it is incredibly fun. You learn in about 60 seconds, and it's remarkably easy to control.
The unexpected thing is how fun it is, especially when going uphill. Whenever I glide uphill on a sidewalk, I can't help but think about how I would have struggled on a bike, or how long it would have taken to walk. And, it's fun to stroll along at walking pace alongside pedestrians, in complete control. It's nice having a couple extra inches in height, too.
Update: I had my first fall off the machine today, and skinned my elbow. I was doing something incredibly stupid, trying to climb a hill of loose gravel. Sheesh. Pretty stupid, thank you.
The Sidekick (Danger hiptop from T-Mobile)
This thing is so neat that I've forgotten how neat it is. The color display is really great, much better than I've seen on any other handheld. It's always connected to the network, so AOL instant messages come and go without having to tell the thing to connect. It syncs instantly to a web interface -- too bad it can't sync with my Mac via iSync. Not to mention not syncing with corporate e-mail/organizers.
The Macintosh
Yes, I switched back to a Mac, and I love it. I'm using the 15 inch PowerBook G4, and it is sweet. In fact, it seems everything Apple is doing these days is sweet. Plus, I get to run Unix tools/apps.
The iPod
A gift for my birthday, it is too much fun. I got the 30 gig version -- more storage than any of my computers had before I bought the PowerBook a month ago. Now I've got all my CDs on it, a nice tape deck adapter for the car, and I'm all set. Plus, with the Apple Music Store, I've bought more music in the last 10 days than I bought in the last 6 months.
See in as you've gone and got gadgeted up, why not use your iPod in the car with this.
Posted by: Ben | July 03, 2003 at 04:06 AM
The true nerd in you comes out.
:-)
Is the quality of the Danger's camera any better on the color model? That and their sdk/developer's policy are deal breakers - for me.
Posted by: Marc Canter | July 03, 2003 at 06:12 AM
Ben, looks like your link didn't make it into the comment -- I'm using a standard tape deck adapter for my iPod in my car. I've heard you can also get some car radios with an accessible input jack, something I'll have to do in the future. Sure would be cool to have a dock or something for the iPod in the car.
Marc, the picture quality on the color sidekick is really great, seems like much higher resolution than the gray version, but that's probably because the extra color information makes images more readable. As far as I know the camera is the same -- I've heard they're working on a higher-rez camera, but haven't seen it yet.
Danger's SDK is openly available, I thought, but there is no approved way of getting the software you write on anyone's machine, other than hooking it up to a developer's kit. Obviously kills any desire to develop third party apps.
I don't know for sure, but I suspect this is a carrier (T-Mobile) problem -- they're afraid of customers installing software that kills their phone, and dealing with the associated customer support costs as well as replacement costs.
Danger has to get them to get over this to be a viable platform. Certainly other carriers using Palm OS have gotten over it, so it's possible.
Posted by: Pierre Omidyar | July 03, 2003 at 09:10 AM
Thank you for blogging for us Pierre! I love the Segway update!
Update: I had my first fall off the machine today, and skinned my elbow. I was doing something incredibly stupid, trying to climb a hill of loose gravel. Sheesh. Pretty stupid, thank you.
Posted by: Doug Kenline | July 03, 2003 at 07:03 PM
What is the battery life on the segway?
Posted by: shawn | July 04, 2003 at 01:56 PM
It's got a range of 10 to 15 miles on a full 4-hour charge. Less if the rider is really heavy or if you go up a lot of hills. If you ride it correctly downhill, at about 2/3 speed, it recharges the batteries. You can actually see the battery meter go back up.
The batteries are NiMH, so they have a limited life span of about 300 to 500 recharge cycles. They are expensive. Towards the end of their life cycles they don't hold as much charge. I have heard rumors that the company is working on Lithium Ion batteries, which would be logical, but also much more expensive. But in the long run probably more economical, since they could have a much longer life span.
Posted by: Pierre Omidyar | July 07, 2003 at 12:25 PM
Pierre writes:
"Whenever I glide uphill on a sidewalk, I can't help but think about how I would have struggled on a bike"
Hey, that is the beauty of the bike: sometimes you struggle and sometimes you glide!
Posted by: Andrea | August 15, 2003 at 08:34 PM
Pierre, I have an iPod too, and I love using it my car via the cassette adaptor. Problem is: my wife's car doesn't have a cassette player, just CD. How to listen to the iPod via her car stereo?
A friend recently referred me to www.rcainput.com. They sell RCA hookups that allow you to connect your iPod (via the headphone output) into RCA jacks in the back of the car's head unit. Depending on what kind of car you're driving, an adapter costs under a hundred bucks (currently runs $79.95 for VW models) and is fairly easy to install.
I can't yet vouch for having installed an RCA input in my wife's car yet, as she hasn't given me clearance to augment her car's stereo, but I'm ready just as soon as she says "yes, you can."
Hope you're still loving your iPod.
Posted by: Thomas | September 05, 2003 at 09:39 AM
Several months late, but here's the link for connection of iPod to car radio!
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itrip/index.html
Posted by: Ben | October 02, 2003 at 06:26 AM
Did you see the article on CNN today about the Pez museum? ;-)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TRAVEL/10/13/offbeat.pez.museum.ap/index.html
Cheers!
Ed
Posted by: Ed | October 14, 2003 at 08:01 AM