Me and Anniken took the old amplifier down to Hi-Fi Klubben, where I bought it. Taking the amplifier with us was a last minute thing, I knew it was at least two years old and figured that the repairs would not covered by the store when the amplifier was that old. But I’m very happy we did take it with us, because it turned out that the store is required by law to cover repairs for five years, not two, like I thought.

The very helpful staff in the store confirmed that they also heard the static noise in the right front speaker, concluded that repairing the amplifier would be more expensive than to actually give me a brand new one. So they picked up a Denon AVR-1611 from their storage room and simple gave it to me, no charge.

On top of this I got an additional five years the store-have-to-pay-for-repairs on the new Denon. That was probably the most surprising thing about it all and if this continues I’ll never have to buy a new amplifier ever again. I just have to hope they all go tits up every four years.

And now for something completely different.

A couple of years ago I bought a dead cheap surround amplifier from Argon. It was a demo model they’d used in the store and I got the amplifier and a region free DVD player for 900 NOK, about €114. A bargain. The DVD player gave me a mild electric shock if I touched it whenever it was plugged in a wall socket, but the amplifier worked like a charm until a few weeks ago, when a static noise began to sound from the right front speaker. Cleaning and dusting the insides of the amplifier didn’t help – I’ve successfully “fixed” a similar problem doing that in the past. The reason for the static noise is evidently a soon-to-fail thingy inside the amplifier and since I don’t have the wiring diagram, an oscilloscope, spare parts or the skills to fix it, I’m guessing it’s about time to get a new surround amplifier.

“What about getting someone with a wiring diagram, an oscilloscope, spare parts and the skills to fix it for you”, you might ask. Yes, that is a good idea in theory. The problem is my experience with trying to get people to fix my stuff. They either a) manage to misplace the gadget they try to fix or b) is unable to reproduce and fix the problem, but still charge me for the job. So by getting a brand new amplifier I avoid that someone a) manage to misplace the amplifier or b) is unable to reproduce and fix the problem, but still charge me for the job.

I’m no audiophile, so I don’t need all the bells and whistles, plus I really don’t want to sink a lot of money into this. My only real deal is actually the size of the amplifier. Most of the surround amplifiers I’ve seen are damn huge, at least if they are not part of a complete package with speakers. Since I have 5+1 excellent speakers, getting a package is not an option for me, but I really wanted an amplifier with a DVD player form factor. With that in mind I thought I’d check out what Argon had managed to put together since I bought the first amplifier.

It turns out that Argon doesn’t manufacture surround amplifiers anymore. In fact, it looks like they never did, because my failing amplifier is not even in their discontinued products backlog. Also, finding a slim surround amplifier turned out to be quite the challenge. I found the MARANTZ NR-1501, but it’s way too expensive. After a while I realized that my wish to go both budget and slim wasn’t possible and started looking at monster normal size amplifiers instead. Pioneer has some budget models, but it’s a brand I associate with cars and blue neon lights.

Eventually, I turned to Denon. Even though the guy who designed their website needs to be thought a lesson about the use of Flash intros, frames and pop-ups, they do make high quality audio equipment. They also offer budget lines, which suits me well. In the end, I will probably settle for the Denon AVR-1611. It has a lot of crap I don’t really need, like “3D pass-through technology” and “Audyssey MultEQwith Advanced Low Frequency Correction”, but it supports 5 speakers and a sub woofer, optical digital input and HDMI. Sounds like a blast!

Unless you have any better suggestions?

So, what about it? Should I ditch my HTC Hero in favor of a brand new Nexus One? It’s an impressive piece of hardware that is crammed with lots of equally impressive software and with the recent update from Google, it has also got multitouch support. The screen is huge, the Snapdragon processor is lightning fast and the phone has even got a “Tri-color clickable trackball“. Come on, what more can you possible ask for!?

Well, with impressive hardware usually comes a notable price tag and the Nexus One is no exception. I don’t live in the US, so getting a T-Mobile subsidized version is not an option. I doubt that it would have been an option even if I’ve lived in the US of A since locking yourself to a provider for an extended period of time can be a serious pain in the ass. The price without selling your soul to T-Mobile is a massive $529, which is a lot of money for a phone. But the Nexus One can, like most other phones with that price tag, also double as a camera, an MP3 player, a GPS navigator and probably a lot more that I can’t think of right now.

What do other people think of the Nexus one? I know two people who have already bought the phone and they are generally very pleased with it. Even though the phone is not for sale here in Norway, there are ways. You can buy the phone through a web proxy, have it sent to a post box in the US and then moved by air mail to Norway. It’s really easy, I did this when I bought my first generation iPhone using JetCarrier. They come highly recommended if you need anything sent from the United States to Norway, Sweden or Denmark.

The internet also likes the Nexus One. The only real biggie I’ve seen is poor 3G data connection and a lot of fall back to EDGE. This will most likely not be a problem in Norway, where the 3G coverage is excellent – at least in the areas I go. It can’t sync Exchange calendars, but my guess is that this feature will be added in a software update. Google was pretty quick to release multitouch support when people started to complain about that and I can’t see why they should not add Exchange calendar support. The general consensus seems to be that the Nexus One is a great handset, capable of going head-to-head with the iPhone and without doubt the best Android phone available today.

If you look at the big picture, $529 might not be that much money. But then again, why should I spend anything at all on something that I get for free at work? That phone is not my personal phone, but it doesn’t really make any difference if it’s my personal phone or not because I’m using it as it was. The Hero covers my day-to-day needs well enough for me to keep the money in my wallet. To be honest, I’d rather buy some something for you-know-who.

There you go, in just a few minutes I’ve talked myself out of spending my hard earned cash on something I don’t really need. This is a great way to save money!

So I set off on a quest to find the ultimate Mini-ITX for a home server for my web server and mail server. The server had to be both powerful and silent, meaning no noisy power supply, no CPU fans and no clicking hard drives. The only real way to achieve this is by building a server with no moving parts at all. I also wanted to use a enclosure that looked nice enough to have in the living room. After a lot of research I ended up with the following hardware:

• SilverStone Mini-ITX SST-LC19R black.
• Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC6400 800MHz.
• Samsung DVD±R/RW/RAM slim DL 8X SATA black.
• ZOTAC ION ITX F series motherboard.
• Two Kingston V Drive notebook 64GB SSD SATA/300.

If you decide to build a server with the same hardware as me, there are a few things your should be aware of when it comes to the ZOTAC ION ITX F motherboard, SilverStone LC19R case, Kingston V SSD hard drives and Samsung slim SATA DVD drive:

• The Serial ATA (SATA) cables that come with the ZOTAC motherboard are all angled. This means that you will not be able to use them unless you either attach your hard drives upside down (not possible with the Kingston V SSD hard drives) or get rising brackets or something similar. You have to buy new SATA cables that are not angled.
• The screws provided with the ZOTAC motherboard are too large to attach the Kingston V SSD hard drives. There are no screws provided with the hard drives,  so you have to get some smaller screws yourself.
• The USB cable for the internal card reader in the SilverStone case is too short and you will not be able to attach it to the ZOTAC motherboard. This means that you either have to buy an extension cable or consider buying the SilverStone LC19 instead, which comes without an internal card reader. I will not use the card reader in my box, so this is not a loss for me. The reason why I bought the LC19R was that the LC19 was unavailable.
• The SilverStone case comes with front connectors for IEEE 1394 FireWire, audio in and audio out. This is great, but there are no internal connectors on the ZOTAC motherboard for any of these, meaning that they cannot be used.
• That said, you will be able to use the two front panel USB connectors as that cable is long enough to reach the ZOTAC motherboard and it even has 2 internal connectors for USB (only 1 used used for the front panel USB connectors).
• No cables are provided for the Samsung slim SATA DVD drive. You have to buy a cable that fits to a slim SATA power and data connector, which, for some reason is not the same connectors used for SATA hard drives.
• You should also remember to buy a network cable. Even if the ZOTAC motherboard comes with an internal wireless LAN card, I will be using a good old network cable to connect to a network switch in my apartment. Because of this I don’t know if the wireless LAN card works or not in Ubuntu 9.10. This probably won’t be a problem if you’re using Windows, though.
• The ZOTAC motherboard comes with an Intel Atom 330 CPU with passive cooling. You should be aware of the fact that the CPU will overheat when the motherboard is inside the SilverStone case, even when the CPU is idling. This was a major disappointment for me, since the CPU had to be cooled down with a fan. To top it off, the CPU fan provided with ZOTAC motherboard is too large to fit in the SilverStone case. Thankfully you can move the case exhaust fan and attach it to the case by the CPU heat sink instead. This solved the overheating problem. If you want to use another fan, note that you can only fit 50x50mm fans inside the SilverStone LC19R case. A 3-pin connector is required to attach the fan connector to the ZOTAC motherboard.
• Since you are pretty much screwed if the CPU fan breaks down, it’s highly recommended that you buy a spare 50x50mm fan with a 3-pin connector just in case.

As you can see, there are quite a few gotchas when it comes to the hardware. I could probably have done a lot better research before I placed the hardware order, but it was hard to find information like this online. Even though none of the gotchas are critical, it’s rather annoying that most of the SilverStone LC19 front panel connectors can’t be used with the ZOTAC motherboard and that the Atom CPU didn’t stay cool enough with just passive cooling. When everything that can be attached and connected are actually attached and connected, the SilverStone case looks quite nice in my Hi-Fi rack.

So this is the reason why there hasn’t been any new entries this week, my spare time has been used to build the server and set up the necessary software. With a little luck, the server will be up and running tomorrow evening.

Update: As requested in the comments, here are some pictures of the box.

While browsing the interweb on my iPhone a while back, I came across a site using the WPtouch plugin for WordPress. It automagically displays your WordPress site in a more mobile-friendly way and everything works surprisingly well out of the box. It’s supposed to work well on not only the iPhone and Android handsets, but all kinds of mobile browsers. I’ve only tested on my iPhone and on someone’s HTC Hero, but it looked very nice on those two handsets. I’ve even taken the liberty to include a screen shot in this post. If you have a WordPress site, you need this plugin to better support everyone who is browsing your site on a mobile device.

And while we’re on the subject of mobile phones; I’m considering ditching my iPhone in favor of an Android handset. The HTC Hero has become rather popular at work and I’ve had the chance to play around with it for a while. So far, so good. According to the reviews I’ve read, the major drawback of the Hero is that it can be a bit laggy at times, but this has been addressed by HTC in a recent patch. Also, my first generation iPhone is getting slower and slower for each update Apple releases, opening the Messages application can take as much as half a minute some times.

The Android platform has quite a few good things going for it; one of the things I like the most is that you can have applications running in the background on your phone. This means that you can have an application like the new Spotify client or the closed beta Wimp client running in the background and still do other things, like sending a text message. Apple does not allow this on the iPhone to preserve battery. A good idea in theory, but it can also be very limiting for the application developers.

Another great thing is that Android is Java based, and I know Java (supposedly). This means I can create my own applications. I’ve already got an excellent idea for an application that has great potential of becoming an instant hit, at least in the Oslo area. No, it’s not another Trafikanten-client.

So it looks like it’s not a question of if I’m getting an Android handset or not, rather when I’m getting it. The HTC Hero is of course a nice phone and I would probably have gotten that one if it wasn’t for the fact that there are some very interesting things happening in terms of Android handsets in the not-so-distant future. Samsung will soon the launching its Samsung I7500 Galaxy in Norway, LG and Motorola have some models available and Sony Ericsson is supposed to have an Android phone in the pipe as well.

In the store I also looked at the Canon Digital IXUS 870 IS, a camera that, according to its specifications and the store clerk, would take higher quality pictures than the 100 IS. The price was the same, but the 870 IS a bit larger and as my shopping helper pointed out; I already have a huge camera that takes high quality pictures, what I was looking for now was something really compact. And the 100 IS is really compact.

Even though I’ve not had the chance to test the new camera properly yet, I’m very pleased with what I’ve seen so far. The camera is snappy, the automatic mode works well, there is a myriad of presets if you don’t want to use the automatic mode – one example is a preset for “fireworks”, not sure how often I’ll need that – and it’s possible to manually control the ISO value, white balance and exposure control. I wish it was possible to control the shutter speed and aperture, though.

Over the next two, three weeks, I’ll most likely take a few pictures with the 100 IS and there’s a chance I’ll post some of them here for you to glare at. The photos used in the Candy Test Part I were all taken using the new camera in automatic mode, which correctly switched to macro mode when the object was moved close enough to the lens. The quality of the images is about as high as my expectations for a compact in the 100 IS’ price range.

But there is one major issue with the 400D and the kit I’m using now: It’s just too large to take with me wherever I go. This summer I will be out and about a little and I’ve decided to see if it’s possible to find a digital compact camera that will cover my needs without being too pricey.

I’ve decided to stick with Canon since I’ve never had any real problems with any of my Canon cameras, the image quality has always been great and Canon cameras are usually scoring quite high in the various reviews I’ve read.

I’ve narrowed my search down to four models. They all have their pros and cons based on my simple criteria: High image quality, small camera size and low weight, the camera should be somewhat sturdy so it doesn’t break apart the first week and manual controls would be nice, but it’s more important that the camera is capable of taking good photos when it’s running in automatic mode. Also, video is nice, but not really necessary.

Canon PowerShot D10

This is the camera of the pack that should be able to withstand the most punishment before it goes tits up. It’s water proof down to 10 meters, will survive a fall from 1.22 meters (from 1.23 meters, it’ll break into tiny, tiny pieces) and should operate in temperatures as low as -10 degrees. An excellent camera for anyone with both legs into extreme sports – in other words, overkill for me. The camera sports a 12.1 megapixels image sensor, 35-105mm equivalent lens with 3.0x optical zoom and optical image stabilization, 2.7-inch LCD and ISO sensitivity from 80 to 1600.

With those specifications, it should be able to do the job, but there are some downsides here. First of all, the shock, dust and water proof housing makes it quite large compared to the other three models. Also, everything water proof is a little bit more expensive than things that are not. Digital Photography Review describes the camera as “an Elph / Ixus wrapped up in a waterproof shell” and I can agree with that comparison as the technical specifications of the D10 are very similar to some of Canon’s Ixus models.

Canon Digital Ixus 870 IS

The Ixus 870 IS is the camera that packs the least punch when it comes to megapixels with “only” 10 megapixels. To be honest, I’m not sure if I’ll notice any difference from 12.1 to 10 megapixels. None of the four cameras can shoot RAW images and they all feature the same type of image sensor (1/2,3″ CCD) and image processor (DIGIC 4 with iSAPS-technology). Other features on the 870 includes 28-112mm equivalent lens with 4x Optical zoom and 4x Digital zoom, 3.0 inch LCD, dual Image Stabilizer and ISO sensitivity up to 1600.

The camera scores well for high image quality in the test I’ve read and the the only real con has been high ISO noise. Personally, I like that it has a 28-112mm equivalent lens and 4x optical zoom. 2cm macro might also come in handy.

Canon Digital Ixus 100 IS

This is the smallest of the four, weighing in at 75 grams less than the D10. It’s also, at least in my humble opinion, the camera with the best design, except maybe for the buttons on the back. It’s one of Canon’s first compacts to offer HD (720p) movie recording and the quality is rather good. According the reviews I read, the Auto mode works well, recognising not just the difference between people, landscapes and close-ups, but also the lighting conditions, adjusting the exposure and flash accordingly. Sounds excellent for point-and-click snapshots.

Other features are 33-100mm equivalent lens with 3x Optical zoom, ISO levels from 80 to 1600, 2.5 inch LCD and Image Stabilization.

Canon Digital Ixus 110 IS

This is the Ixus 100 IS’ bigger brother, or maybe sister – if you decide to get the pink version. In design, the 110 IS looks a bit like the 870 IS, at least from the front. The back of the camera, however, is very different and I’m really not sure if I like it. Sure, image quality is the number one criteria when buying a camera, but it should look nice, too. As far as comparisons go, the 110 IS comes with more or less the same technical specifications as the 870 IS, except for an extra 2.1 megapixels, a bit smaller LCD screen and the possibility to shoot somewhat larger JPEG photos.

The main difference between the two is that the 110 IS can record 1280×720 widescreen movies and the LCD screen also has a widescreen form factor.

Verdict

In conclusion, all four cameras are usable options for me, but I think I can safely remove two of them the list. The PowerShot D10 is too large and I don’t really need a camera that I can dive with. It’s also a bit pricey. That said, if I get the D10 I will be prepared for more or less any situation where it’s possible I’d like to take a picture, but I’m not looking for a camera like that – I want a simple, no fuzz, point-and-click snapshot compact.

That also means that the Ixus 110 IS has got to go. It, too, is too large and the back looks like a mess. 1280×720 wide screen video recording would be nice, though. Still, it’s not the in-the-pocket camera I’m looking for.

That leaves the Ixus 870 IS and the Ixus 100 IS. Tomorrow I’ll try to stop by a photography store to have a look at them both. I suspect that the Ixus 100 IS is the one I’ll eventually end up with, but it’s hard to say until I’ve had the chance to play around with both.

The internet and Hallvard have been my main sources of information during my search. I’ve been reading reviews and recommendations on the these sites and they come highly recommended if you’re ever looking to buy a digital camera:

• akam.no (in Norwegian)
• Digital Photography Review
• PhotographyBLOG
• Camera Labs
• Canon
]]> http://www.vegard.net/archives/1961/feed/ 0 http://www.vegard.net/archives/1787/ http://www.vegard.net/archives/1787/#comments Sat, 09 May 2009 07:49:00 +0000 vegard http://www.vegard.net/archives/1787/
]]> http://www.vegard.net/archives/1787/feed/ 0 http://www.vegard.net/archives/1773/ http://www.vegard.net/archives/1773/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 19:59:08 +0000 vegard http://www.vegard.net/?p=1773 We’re now in the middle of next week if seen from last week’s perspective. This means I should have been playing with my brand new Asus Eee PC 1000HE right now, but I’m not. When I checked the store’s web site today, they’d suddenly changed the date they would get more units in stock to May 24. If you look at a calendar, you’ll notice that May 24 is not today. It’s not this week. Or even the next. It’s actually two weeks until May 24 and it’s a Sunday, which is strange since they are not open on Sundays.

On my way home from work I stopped by the computer store to check if the date on their web site was correct, and yes, yes it was. No netbook for me, then. This, of course, made me want one even more. So I’ve now placed an order for a 1000HE online from a store that reported they had 100+ left in stock. Let’s see how reality turns out.

I’ve discovered that I prefer to sit in my sofa when I write stuff. Even though the MacBook Pro is theoretically portable, it’s normally connected to a FireWire sound card that never works properly if it’s disconnected or connected when the computer is turned on. The user manual actually has two pages dedicated to a huge warning saying that you should not disconnect the sound card if the computer is turned on as it might cause the unit to malfunction. This means I have to turn the MacBook off and then on again when moving it around – not too much hassle, of course, but another reason to get the netbook.

Theehee.

]]> http://www.vegard.net/archives/1773/feed/ 0 http://www.vegard.net/archives/1740/ http://www.vegard.net/archives/1740/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:55:21 +0000 vegard http://www.vegard.net/?p=1740 You’ve probably heard of netbooks. If not, it’s likely that you’re not very interested in technology or gadgets and you can safely stop reading this entry now. Or you can click the link above, read the Wikipedia article, and come back here.

Great idea.

Netbooks are very similar to cell phones in the way that no one really needs them, but people are still crazy about them anyway. Of course, the number of netbooks per capita is not the same as for cell phones, but every dedicated nerd has a netbook laying around. And by that I literary mean “laying around”, because there’s a good chance it’s not being used. The netbook is a bit like the Nintendo Wii that way.

You see, there’s no really good reasons to buy a netbook as opposed to, say, a normal laptop. When I tried to come up with good reasons to burn through $400 for one, I came up with the following:

• It’s smaller.

And that’s about it. That said, it’s a good thing if you need something small to carry around with you, but I don’t really feel that I can justify buying something just because it’s small. By that logic, I should have a lot of very tiny things in my apartment, but I don’t. Besides, I already have a MacBook Pro that I can bring with me if I desperately need a computer when I’m on the move.

My problem, however, is that I really, really want a netbook. And I have no idea why. This gives me quite the challenge, because I feel I need some very good reasons to buy one – after all, we are talking about a lot of money. So, after some brain storming, a little help from my friends and colleagues, the following (very good) reasons to buy a netbook are on the table:

• It’s smaller (than a laptop). Yes, I already knew that, but thanks anyway.
• The battery life can be significantly better than a laptop. Dell is bragging that it’s possible to run one of their E-series laptops for 19 hours on battery power, but that requires you to attach so many batteries it’ll probably become an explosive hazard. The best battery life I’ve seen so far on a netbook is 9.5 hours on the Asus Eee PC 1000HE, and that’s quite good, even though actual battery life is probably somewhat shorter than the 9.5 hours they advertise.
• It can be great as a backup device for pictures when I’m out travelling. Most netbooks have a storage card reader built in, but I’ve not seen any with a Compact Flash reader, the storage cards used by my Canon. But that can be solved by a CF USB reader. All-in-all, this would have been a good reason to buy one if I were taking a lot of pictures at remote locations. Which I’m not, unfortunately.
• The netbook can be used to play around with new operating systems, like Windows 7 and different Linux distributions. But I’m already using VirtualBox for that on my Mac.
• If I buy one with a 3G module, I can be online wherever U go (given that coverage is available, of course). A good idea in theory, but only in theory. Since I’m now paying my own phone bill again, I’ve completely stopped using mobile internet. It’s so much more expensive than free Wi-Fi hotpots, which you’ll find almost everywhere if you look hard enough.
• All right, so what about Wi-Fi? Every netbook has built in Wi-Fi, I’ll be online everywhere with an internet hotspot. I’ve already got my iPhone for that…
• But what if I was an author? Then I could take my work with me everywhere I thought I’d find inspiration. I could spend hours in coffee shops, drinking Latte, while working on my short stories, novels and movie scripts.

That’s just fucking brilliant! Tomorrow I’m getting a netbook and starting my new life as an author. Thank you, vivid imagination!

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