Performance (Read/Write) of the SSD Boot Drive:

Performance (Read/Write) of the 3TB Raid0:

As a matter of fact, after these improvements the Mac Pro now scores almost as high as my brand new 27″ Core i5 iMac on XBench tests!

Red: 2010 iMac, Blue: 2006 Mac Pro with SSD boot drive

Check out the video review that Kevin Rose & I shot a few months ago:

Watch a few seconds of the iPhone 4 Video:

Now, watch the same video as recorded by an HTC EVO 4G:

There is just NO comparison here. The quality of video and audio being captured by EVO 4G is awful, and could be bested by even the oldest Flip camera out there. The bitrate/compression is very low, and it seems like the frame rate is capped at below 25 fps, possibly even 15 fps. That is NOT HD video. The “resolution” may be 1280×720, but that is absolutely not high-definition quality video.

Of course, by comparison iPhone 4′s “HD” capability looks fine, but i’m noticing quite a bit of CMOS “jelly” motion when there’s some side-to-side movement going on in the frame. Not perfect, but it seems to minimize it more than most Flip devices. Another observation is that the iPhone 4 camera seems to handle very well in low-light, which is encouraging.

Pretty simple to figure out. I was able to clone the old 160GB drive and keep all of my recordings and settings on the new drive. Worked like a charm:

The resources I used to do this upgrade can be found at the TiVo Community.

The drive I’m using is a cheap 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black. Currently $99 at Best Buy.

Usability

The first thing that impressed me about this mouse was how natural it felt in my hand when I used it. The curve that they designed for the arc shape of the mouse is spot on ergonomically. It’s also just the right size. Any smaller and it would probably be too small for me to consider using it as my primary mouse.

However, this size mouse may not be for everyone. I was frustrated at first when my ring finger would fall off the side of the mouse. After a while, I realized that it was not a problem and the only reason I noticed the difference was because my old mouse had a support for my ring finger. I will say that if you have a large hand or particularly large fingers you may find this mouse frustrating.

One misconception people have with the Arc Mouse is that it is still useable after its folded. It’s not. Folding the mouse turns it off to save battery while you’re traveling with it. Folding it back out to its full size turns it back on.

USB Wireless vs. Bluetooth

The Arc Mouse has a tiny USB dongle that is almost smaller than the USB bracket itself. I know a few guys who won’t buy a mouse unless it uses Bluetooth. I can relate: using Bluetooth eliminates the problem of losing a tiny USB dongle.

The USB dongle is tiny but Microsoft has employed a handy force of nature to help keep users from losing the device: Magnetism. The USB dongle magnetically sticks to the bottom of the Arc Mouse and locks in place once you fold the mouse in half. Keeping up with the dongle is as easy as keeping up with the mouse itself.

As for Bluetooth, my current opinion is based on my past experiences. While I wish Bluetooth would infiltrate every technology to connect all of our devices together, one thing Bluetooth has never convincingly delivered to me is a great experience with optical mice. I’ve used Apple’s Bluetooth Mighty Mouse and a few Bluetooth Logitech mice in the past and one thing that plagues the lot of them is a tiny latency between moving and clicking the mouse and what registers on screen with the system you are using. Then there’s a nail in that coffin: battery life. I could never get a Bluetooth mouse to last longer than a month with brand-new batteries.

However, with USB I’m still using the factory provided batteries on two wireless mice that I bought six months ago. I’ve also never experienced latency with wireless USB mice, and the Arc Mouse performs just as well as you would expect.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a mouse that feels natural, and is ultra-portable you should try out the Arc Mouse. Microsoft’s engineers have really found an interesting way for consumers to have a full size mouse but make it portable enough to carry with you. The current retail price of $59.99 may be a little much for folks who are happy with their current mouse, but if you’ve been stuck with an old optical mouse for the last few years it may be time to invest and upgrade to a newer mouse with better technology inside. I’m impressed with the Arc mouse thus far and I plan on using it as my primary mouse for both my desktop and laptop for the foreseeable future.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

Conforms to your hand.
Feels very natural.
Folds in half for portability.
Great battery life.

Cons:

May be too small for some.
Tiny USB dongle may be cumbersome for some.

Panasonic’s AG-HMC150 AVCHD Camcorder

Ordered it today. The new Panasonic AG-HMC150. While I was home last weekend I picked up the latest issue of Videomaker magazine and I was stunned to see this camera on the cover. I hadn’t been following any of the new camera releases at NAB this year, so I was unaware that Panasonic had unleashed this beast.

Breaking down barriers…

One of the main obstacles that kept me from going High Definition in the past was the cost of entry. And this camera blows that barrier to kingdom come. The HMC150 is priced just right at $3,495 an absolute steal for what it can do. Panasonic’s premier HD camera, the AG-HVX200, costs $5,600 for the camera body alone, then tack on the subsequent amounts of $800 or more for the much loathed proprietary P2 cards that the HVX shoots on. These P2 cards are basically big flash drives that are available in increments of 8GB, 16GB, etc. that mount onto the back of the camera and allow you to shoot in an all-digital tapeless format.

I knew P2 cards would be a pain, but then comes along the HMC150. The HMC150 doesn’t use tapes or P2 cards. It shoots directly onto readily available and highly affordable High Capacity SD cards. Yes, those SD cards. You probably have a few lying around already.

Making HD accessible…

The AVCHD format can hold up to 3 hours of full quality 1080p video on a 32GB card. If I buy just a handful of 16GB or 32GB SD cards, I’ll have hours and hours of available space to work with and I won’t have juggle around dozens of tapes. Backing up the footage is easy, and when all is said and done you format the cards and move on to the next project.

This camera is a game changer for sure. When mine comes in at the end of the week I plan to do lots of test shoots and I’ll post them here.

Another fun fact is that DLP televisions seem to be on their way out due to LCD flat-panel televisions ruling the HDTV market right now. Only two more manufacturers even bother to produce DLP rear-projection televisions like this one anymore: Samsung and Mitsubishi. What this means is now is the best time to get one! Currently DLP TV’s are available in massive sizes on the cheap. I would have paid twice as much for a flat panel LCD or Plasma television of this size.

Traditional DLP televisions work by way of projecting a super-bright beam of light from a bulb through Red Green and Blue color wheels which then bounce off tiny mirrors to produce the image. In this unit Samsung has brought something new to the game: LED. Instead of a limited-life bulb powering the TV they’ve replaced it with super-bright LED’s (The same technology used in digital outdoor signage).

I was worried about several factors about this TV seeing as it’s the largest TV I’ve ever owned, but let me tell you this TV has been blowing me away since the moment I plugged it in this weekend. All of the potential downsides of DLP have been remedied by Samsung’s clever new LED engine. It’s clear, bright, and the color is pristine. Perfect for TV, Movies and Games!

]]> http://www.grahamhancock.me/2008/08/new-tv/feed/ 3 http://www.grahamhancock.me/2008/04/mybook-studio-drive-led/ http://www.grahamhancock.me/2008/04/mybook-studio-drive-led/#comments Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:57:51 +0000 Graham http://grahamhancock.net/2008/04/12/mybook-studio-drive-led/ Check out this video of the MyBook Studio External Hard Drive’s Front LED Display: