Dude, Where’s My Blog Posts?
So I’ll admit I’ve been neglecting putting posts up lately, but then again that is my nature on this blog isn’t it?
We are staying busy finishing up the addition to the house, finally got the plumbing squared away and will have that inspected shortly along with the electrical so I can get insulation back in the walls and get the sheetrock up. It’s turning out nicely, can’t wait to use the bubblemassage tub!
Audrey turns 1 next month, can’t believe she was born almost a year ago already. Seems like just yesterday we were taking her home from the hospital. A lot has changed and she has grown a lot, despite being a lazy baby! She’s taken a few steps but is too lazy to pull herself up and walk on her own. She also does the dead-man crawl, only using her arms. It’s amazing to see how she figures out remotes for the TV and stuff.
Maybe my next update won’t take so long, only time will tell…
Apple iPad: Good or Bad?
Apple announced the iPad today at their keynote after a long period of rumors with some of them coming true, and a lot of key ones not. Being an Apple stockholder I was very interested in seeing what was going to be announced today and so far I’m still on the fence. Really this is just a large iPhone / iPod Touch missing some components.
Let’s look at some of the technical specs that set it apart from the iPhone / iPod Touch:
Size and weight
- Height:
- 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
- Width:
- 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
- Depth:
- 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
- Weight:
- 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model;
- 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model
Display
- 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
- 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
- Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
- Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Capacity
- 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive
Processor
- 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip
TV and Video
- Support for 1024 x 768 with Dock Connector to VGA adapter; 576p and 480p with Apple Component A/V Cable, 576i and 480i with Apple Composite Cable
Battery and Power
- Built-in 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery
- Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
- Charging via power adapter or USB to computer system
Let’s talk first about my major cons:
First off, 64GB is the max capacity in this device? A device like this needs at least double that to be useful. I want to be able to have a lot of my music, movies, and TV shows as well as iTunes U material loaded on this device.
Second, where’s the camera?!? A device like this cries out for iChat with Video Conferencing.
Third, no multitasking? The iPod audio player on the iPad at least needs to be enhanced to support Internet Radio sources as well as others such as Pandora so we can stream our music in the background while doing other things on the iPad.
Fourth, no handwriting input mode. This would make a great portable electronic notebook for meetings.
So what do I actually like about the iPad and think will work well?
I like the keyboard dock accessory, I think this is a great step towards an idea of having the old school mainframe computers or a personal “Citrix” like environment. You take the iPad on a trip with you and launch your MobileMe Back to My Mac application (hint hint Apple, develop one!) which connects you to your Apple laptop or desktop running at your house.
I like the Mail, Contacts, and Calendaring applications. As well as the iBooks application. These all show off the benefit of having a much larger screen size. The new iWork applications as well show how this device could be used in the Enterprise world, something that the iPhone / iPod Touch hasn’t completely been able to do yet. What will make the iWork Keynote application killer is a hardware component for the dock connector that can connect to a VGA converter box without wires for a portable presentation machine.
Ultimately will I run out and buy one when it is released in April (WiFi only in March, I would want a 3G capable devie)? Probably not. Not only will the misses kill me if I spend that much on another computer, but I just don’t think I could fully utilize the device for the cost without my cons being fixed. Now if someone were so gracious to send one my way of course I would accept that! For now, I’ll be happy with my iPhone 3Gs and MacBook Pro for mobile computing.
Sonos S5 Now Shipping
Now that the Sonos S5 is shipping I can finally post about my experiences with it! Like any new devices there are pros and cons, but it seems that the S5 has way more pros than cons if you look at it in the right light. For those of you that don’t know what the Sonos S5 is the short answer is that it is a wireless music player for the Sonos wireless music distribution system. Want to know more? Click here. For me the Sonos S5 is a great addition to our existing setup of 2 ZP100’s, 2 ZP120’s, ZP80, ZP90, and three CR100’s.
I’m finding that the S5 works great for bathrooms and bedrooms where you don’t want to have to have a ZP120 and speakers setup due to space constraints. In our main bathroom we currently have a ZP120 with two Polk Audio bookshelf speakers. While this setup works it isn’t the most visually appealing setup. When this setup is replaced by a Sonos S5 you can see the difference made by using an all in one solution.
But the real benefit of the Sonos S5 is how portable it is and how you could easily bring it from one location to another. The Sonos S5 features a built-in carry handle to make this process easier, however, I would much rather see a nice fitted and padded bag to carry the S5 along with the power cable and a CR-200 for easier movement between locations. I could see us using the Sonos S5 up at our parents cabin where we tend to try to string extension cords and boomboxes all over during our annual cabin party weekend. Next year we’ll be able to simply bring a S5 and a BR-100 to the cabin and provide music around the yard while we sit at the campfire or play bags.
There are a few features on the S5 that I would like to see, one of them being a cradle for the CR-200 (even though we don’t own any, I would find it useful if we did!), another being more integrated controls for at least starting / stopping music that you have selected from one of the controllers. Often we leave our Sonos sytems on regular channels, our bedroom is typically on Sirius 61 Highway, the garage and my office are typically on Sirius 36 BPM or Energy98. If there are items in the queue a quick play button would be great for a “headless” setup.
One feature I’m glad is not on the S5 is an iPhone/iPod dock. I’ll be the first to stand up for Apple products and how well they are built, but the Sonos S5 to me is not an iPod speaker dock system. I don’t want the Sonos S5 to be tied to a dock connector for input or have the beautiful aesthetics impaired by a dock that only a small fraction of users are going to use. The Sonos concept for music playing requires the use of one of their controllers to really control the playback, not a third-party device. I also find that any music I could access on my iPhone I can access via the Sonos (Pandora, Sirius, Internet Radio, local music).
Overall though I am very pleased with the build and sound quality of the S5. I don’t expect it to compete with my ZP90 hooked up to a Denon A/V receiver with Bose speakers, I expect it to compete with my Klipsch dock speakers for my iPod. When the two are pitted against each other the S5 sounds much better and I have a much larger selection of music to choose from.
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- Carry Handle
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- Bathroom ZP120 + Polk Audio
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- Bathroom S5
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- Bedroom S5
CCIE-W = Half Way There!
So all attendees of Cisco Live this year got a free exam from Pearson Vue if you registered before a certain date along with 50% off exams registered at the event. Now I had taken the CCIE Wireless beta back in November so I figured what the heck I would give it another go. I read all the documents on the exam blueprint and took the CCNA Wireless as a prep for this attempt. Going into the exam I felt more confident, but still not 100% confident. Long story short, I took it on Monday and got a 930 / 1000 which is a passing score! Now of course that means the easy part is done, I have to take the practical lab yet which will be killer I’m sure.
How does this line up with my career goals? Well I wanted to have my CCIE numbers within 5 years of starting at Enventis which was almost 2 years ago, so I guess I’m right in line of my goal! I may try for my CCNA Voice as well just to get some experience on that side of the technology as well.
