Bluetooth Has Arrived

Well, it’s been here for quite awhile, I first hear about it 15 years ago, first used it many years ago.  But now, I have two new toys that utilize it well.  One is a blue-tooth wireless headset (foam, two ears, over the head) from Jawbone that has a rechargeable tiny battery built in.  It works fine for listening to audio books while walking.  But not so great for music.   

My second and more recent discovery is a wonderful bluetooth boom-box by Logitech.  It is an outdated model ($125 on Amazon) that I liked better than the newer model.  It has an 8 hour battery inside (rechargeable). It has one quirk, to save battery, the sub-woofer seems to drop off some when you unplug it from the AC to go into the yard, or whatever. That, thanks to a reviewer on Amazon, is easily fixed with a supplemental battery pack that can be used for other things as well.  I have ordered this battery and will try it soon.  It will recharge smart phones as well, making it ideal for road trips or foreign travel.

This week’s WSJ has an article on Bluetooth Sound.  It pushes the idea that the sound is not so great from Bluetooth, but with the Logitech box, I find the sound (using Pandora from my iTouch) very good, even low bass.  I am actually shocked at the ease with which it connects and the sound quality; I should have had this long ago, it is so convenient, and Pandora offers so many music choices.

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Bluetooth-Wireless-Speaker-MODEL/dp/B005KQ2O26/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_1

buy now if you are interested, I am sure their supplies will run out eventually and similar models go from $178 to $400.  They are still at $125.  Well made and feels substantial, lots of speakers. I feel sure this product is worth more than the price.

WSJ article http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-259016/

Is There An LED Lightbulb In Your Future?

LED lightbulbs were not going to be in my future, I thought. My concept was that LED was a bad idea.  But as I climb ladders more often to replace bulbs I am beginning to see advantages of longer life bulbs.  Spirals are now commodities, and I like one or two brands.  Some I can hardly tell any difference from normal bulbs.  They are especially good in goose neck desk lights, as they don’t generate any heat.

But, LED reviews in Consumer Reports and other magazines have started to come on strong.  Spiral bulbs often have warnings against using dimmers, and against putting them in sealed fixtures. I have a number of sealed fixtures in my home.  As far as I know LED’s are fine in sealed areas.

LED’s have had, in the past, some strange qualities in addition to terribly high prices. Some of them look strange, and some send most of the light up, not around and down. And wavelengths were very white.  But now, Cree, a North Carolina manufacturer might be about to take the LED market by storm.  For under $13 (exclusive for the moment at Home Depot) Cree has a 60 watt (light output) bulb that burns only 9 watts.  Is warm white, mimics the look of the normal lightbulb, and is dimmable. Will last for 23 years under normal 3 hour a day use. In two years it would pay for itself in electricity saving.  After that, it saves massive money over the remaining 21 years.  I gather than the reviewers liked it best of all LED bulbs tested, light went normally around, not just up.

Phillips makes a build called A-19  420240, it was OK similar specs to the Cree, but it throws the light up, I will pass on that one. Also looks more like halogen light, not warm white. 

Ecosmart A19 Bright White 400674 is another dimmable LED, in the bright white spectrum. Price has dropped from $26 to about $14 in recent weeks.  So, you can see where this is going – soon they will be so competitive people will buy them in mass

Cree has not yet received certification for utility rebates, but I am sure it will.  Then it will be even less than $13.   

I will buy a Cree this week and test it.  Look for a Blog update when I have actual happiness (or not) with my first LED bulb. Note this link on Forbes .. worth a read, that's for sure. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/05/22/how-cree-perfected-the-20-year-lightbulb/

Be Healthier For Free

Be Healthier For Free

(Money Magazine July 2013 from CNN Money)

Take the closest thing we have to a wonder drug:

A Walk

It reduces the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, depression, and many other ailments.  Even if you never lose an ounce of weight, increasing activity is crucial to protecting your health.

Smart Phones Take The Lead

Smart phones now hold the lead, annually, for the type of computer most sold and shipped (world wide).  Last year 700 million smart phones were shipped by all manufacturers. That’s nearly double the shipments of PC’s, which was about 352 million.

With 352 million new PC’s shipped a year, wouldn’t you think they could come up with newer, nicer models?  Dell is supposedly going private due to low profits or something, and HP says they don’t make money on PC’s.  So, who is?  352 million is a lot of anything.  Most likely the shipments are half notebook computers which are still selling fairly well I think.

And what do the buyers of those 700 million smart phone computers do with them?  Other than email and Facebook, it appears they mostly use them to play games.  Gaming app’s are the best sellers for iPhone and Android.  Candy Crush Saga is the #1 seller in app stores – both Android and Apple.  How crazy it is to me that you would want to play games on a $550 device the size of your palm – surely there is something better to do with your time, right?

But the top app by “share of your face time” on the smart phone is Facebook,. It is so far in the lead there is no comparison. On average smart phone users are on Facebook 24 % of their time. and I Tunes 8 % and then Pandora 8%  Everything else is 3 % or less.  I was surprised that YouTube is only 2 % of typical owner’s time.  And I think it is one of the better things on the smart phone (at times, anyway).

HTC will soon by out with a smart phone whose home screen is Facebook themed, so you can spend even more of your smart phone time on Facebook than the “average” owner.

Leaving Picasa's Photo Sharing Website

"Leaving Las Vegas"  was the name of a famous book.  Well, I am now thinking of leaving my long-time friend, "Picasa Web Photos". It was a great website, until Google decided, apparently, it wasn't social-media enough.  They renamed and reordered it as Google + and it leaves me cold.  Doesn't work for me, nearly as well as the old site, and they took away the option to send an album to one of several on-line printing companies such as Shutterfly and Walgreens.  I belong to Walgreens Photo and liked that feature.  In seconds I could send a nice album I had created to my Walgreens site, and there edit out the ones I didn't want to print, and change print sizes and so forth.  Then, a few clicks later, and a few hours later, I could pick up the results at my nearby Walgreens (pay at the store, only if I liked the photos).

Now the Google + wants you to share your personal photos with the world.  Not my style. You can still email them as albums, but your friends can no longer use the print option either.

So, I am back shopping around for an alternative.  Flikr is one, but I think I will choose Phanfare.  I like the idea of paying, that keeps all advertising out, and keeps it professional quality.  Also it assures there is a reason for the vendor to keep all your photos safely in their cloud. They get paid to do so.  I know friends who have been on Phanfare for years, and love it.  I would send 100% of my photos, no mater where located, to Phanfare so that, no matter the status of my computer (s) I can be sure that next generations could find their childhood photos no matter where they live. Or when they want to see them.

Phanfare has this over Picasa

1. professional, allows RAW photos, and high MP size photos , high MB size photos
2. will take up all my videos too (many of which I lost in a computer crash a year or two ago)
3. it backs up my backup -- just an external hard drive is not foolproof , they fail, perhaps more often than we realize (and time takes a toll ?)
4. the persons you send a Phanfare album to don't need to register to see it (I think you email the password, but it is straight forward, not complex as the "free" sites are).
5. you can easily send the photos on to many commercial printing companies to make books, or just prints
6. as long as you (or someone pays) the content is protected
7. unlike Google, they are not trying to be a social media site with advertising dollars that might flow from such a situation

If you are using a site like Phanfare, please leave your comments on good, bad, or indifferent.  Thanks.

PS -- I think I will stick with the more stable photo organizing/editing Picasa 3 that is loaded onto my computer.. My beef is just with the website which is where most photos flow once I edit them.

Miracle Reading App? I think so.

Miracle App?  Well, for one 17 year old Brit, who became a $30 millionaire yesterday, it surely was.  But when I tried to download it to my iPad today, it was dark – as they say in show business. Yahoo purchased it, and apparently will now charge for it, or integrate it into their business plan. They pulled the free download. The name was Summly. 

That set me off to find the “next best” thing to Summly.  And I found it. PC Magazine gave it the editor’s choice award – I can surely see why.  Called FlipBoard (for I phone and I Pad, probably Android as well).  This is a new step up, and for me this might change everything as regards viewing news and photos, et al.  

FlipBoard has a home page on the App, where you select the things you are interested in, topics, so to speak.  News, Technology and so forth. Photography perhaps. Then it creates a custom magazine-like newspaper for you, that dazzles, and is constantly updated (I presume).   The next step is the “front page” that shows all your choices with photos and attractive text.  You then choose your first look-see of the session, and it opens like a magazine.  And your turn the pages with your finger like a magazine. And wow, on the iPad it is so smooth!  First page turning App I have enjoyed, you can flip back and forth, the binder is in the middle, but it disappears as the page displays, very clever.

How this differs from a real magazine

1.      it is custom made to your interests

2.      it has gorgeous color photos, back lit, as only an iPad can do it, much cheaper than all that ink for a magazine.

3.      touching a photo you like generally makes it full screen, 8 x 10

4.      it can drill down, as you touch it will show more of a story than a magazine would have room to print – so you get an enhanced experience

5.      sometimes there are even videos, so you can see a story, not just look at still photos

6.      the entire process is the first I have seen that truly replicates and improves on a magazine experience

And, to top it all, the App is free !

Your comments and opinions are welcome. NOTE --- one day after I wrote this, Walter Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal Technology Editor wrote up this APP with praise !!  Great minds think alike?  I hope you enjoy his article as well.

Stock Tracker APP – New Discovery

Real-time Stock Tracker +Alert push  (is the official name, I think) 

I am probably late to the game, but discovered this APP in the APP store today.  It has a few thousand ratings, and 5 stars, pretty rare accolade for an APP.  I agree with the rating. I have already upgraded it to the full $9.99 (one time) professional version.  This eliminates all the ads – which are the top, not particularly annoying, but eliminating them gives more screen space on the iPad for viewing charts, news and related.

I have 3 or 4 stock market APPs on the iPad, and this one is now, in just an hour, is my absolute favorite.  This is one a real stock broker could appreciate.  It has continuously updating prices on your watch list, allows for portfolio set ups to follow your progress, clearly shows the dividend a stock pays and the % to current price (I think).  It also gives more extensive news on an individual stock, or the overall market than other APP’s. It also shows who is asking what price for a stock you are watching, and how many – quickly I got a sense that one of my mother’s stocks was getting more action as the dynamic quantity of selling offers (at a higher asking price) were developing.

Enough said, their charts are excellent, full screen, and partial, their information is great, the ease of use is excellent.  If you trade stocks, or just like to watch your portfolio from time to time, I think this is THE APP to install. 

If anyone knows a better APP, or problems with this one, please post

PS:  the "alert feature" is a nice idea, but I turned it off for now.  It would send you an email if a stock you are watching hit a certain low, high or volume level -- good idea if you planned to sell it at "X" price, for example.  Or buy it if it hit "Y" price. Normally I do not allow APP's to alert me or push information to me. Eventually this one might be an exception.