I recently had a chance to test one of these devices, the Jabra SP200 Bluetooth speakerphone system and after several weeks of testing, I have to admit that I’m impressed. The SP200 is an inexpensive yet thoughtfully designed product whose performance exceeded my expectations. It works well and is a solid, affordable choice.

The SP200 kit includes the speakerphone with wire clip, a USB charging cable, a separate car adapter for the charging cable and a quick start manual. The speakerphone itself is about 5” in length and is designed primarily to be clipped to the sun visor of your car, although it can be used upright as a traditional wireless speakerphone. The far end of the device houses an internal speaker while the nearer end houses a built-in microphone, an LED indicator, an oversized answer/end button and a huge volume wheel which extends outwards from the case to form the leading edge of the device. A simple power switch sits on the left hand side while a USB port on the right hand side allows for charging either from a computer or in-car with the provided adapter.

The large and simple controls of the SP200 make it easy to use while in motion, especially when working by touch. I especially liked the fact that the volume wheel gives audible feedback when turned, emitting louder tones when the volume is turned up and increasingly softer tones as the volume is lowered. This allows you to find the most comfortable volume setting prior to actually receiving a call.

The SP200 also has a strong internal speaker. Voices sounded clear and natural, even at relatively high volume levels. On the other end of the conversation, callers had no difficulty understanding me and the SP200’s digital processing did a good job of suppressing unwanted echoes and road noise. They did observe that my voice sounded a bit flatter than it does over my iPhone, but this is not uncommon for Bluetooth devices.

During my tests, I also found the unit to have very good battery life. Jabra claims the SP200 has 10 hours of talk time and 23 days of standby, numbers which mesh with my observations. Best of all, the speakerphone automatically enters sleep mode after being separated from the phone for 15 minutes, which is a handy feature if, like me, you tend to be forgetful.  A single tap on the answer button re-awakens the unit once you return and a series of tones helps to confirm reconnection.

One of my initial disappointments with the SP200 was its lack of voice dialing support for the iPhone 3GS. Fortunately, Apple’s recent OS 3.1 update has fixed this issue and it now works as expected, although I did have to delete my existing Bluetooth profile for the SP200 and go through the re-pairing process before the feature would work properly. For those with other types of phones, I strongly suggest a visit to the Jabra website. The main page for the SP200 has a compatibility checker which will let you know whether you phone is fully compatible.

With a retail price of $59 and online prices in the $45 range, it’s hard to find much to dislike about the SP200. Ideally, I’d like to see the answer/end button back-lit so it’s easier to find in at night and the blue LED indicator does tend to wash out a bit in bright sunlight, but these are minor concerns. The SP200 is easy to set up and easy to use, with good battery life and solid all-around performance. Best of all, the SP200 can be used in any kind of vehicle or even as a freestanding speakerphone. If you’re concerned about cellphone safety in the car or simply want the convenience of an simple hands-free solution, the Jabra SP200 is a solid and affordable choice.

“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance,” said Ballmer. “It’s a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.”

As you might imagine, I experienced a moment of pure schadenfreude last week when Canalysis senior analyst Pete Cunningham announced that not only did the iPhone have 13.7% of the global smartphone market, but that it had surpassed Windows Mobile devices which had slipped to only 9%. Even worse for Microsoft is the fact that in the last 2 years, Apple has sold more iPhones than all the Windows Mobile devices from all its vendors combined.

I can only imagine that somewhere in Redmond, behind a very heavy door…Steve Ballmer is throwing a good old-fashioned hissy fit, cursing Apple, sweating profusely and gnawing on the furniture.

The fact is that Microsoft has never truly understood Apple and that confusion has grown in part out of their unparalleled success with Windows. With Windows, Microsoft found a superior product in the Macintosh OS, produced a cheaper knock-off and then created a large ecosystem of partners for wide distribution and support. The result was global domination. Unfortunately, cheaper and more plentiful doesn’t automatically win in every situation. As computers sink into every facet of daily life and the costs of consumer technology continue to drop, more and more value is being placed on finding products which are easier, more capable or simple more enjoyable to use.

Microsoft was unable to stop the runaway success of the iPod and it’s looking more and more unlikely that they’ll be able to contain the growth of the iPhone either. Why? Because they cannot fathom a formula for success that isn’t a function of feature set divided by price. It’s how they think and it’s also how they ultimately view the products they compete against. No wonder Ballmer spends so much time shouting at the rain. From his perspective, anyone who willingly pays more for the same features is a brainwashed idiot. What he doesn’t understand is that the experience of a product is more than the sum of its component parts. It’s how the device works, how it feels and even more elusively, how it makes you feel. Can you think of a Microsoft product that is truly a joy to use? I don’t mean one that works well, because many of their products work well enough. I mean one that is a joy to use. Neither can I. That’s because Microsoft isn’t in the joy business. They’re in the “nearly as good for less” business and that isn’t an appeal to the heart. It’s an appeal to the wallet.

So Mr. Ballmer, here’s some friendly advice. The next time you feel yourself ready to mouth off about how Apple is doomed to fail because it doesn’t understand the realities of the marketplace, take a moment and think about Windows Vista and the fact that roughly 50% of Apple Store customers are new to the Mac. Think about sales figures for the Zune as compared to the iPod. Think about the millions of people ditching their Windows Mobile devices for an iPhone. Think about the $35 Billion that a zero-debt Apple has sitting in the bank and all the money it continues to make made through this harsh economic downturn. Then if you’re still confident that you’re the smart one and Apple is the delusional one, then by all means have your say.

Just understand that with your miserable track record in predicting Apple’s future, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll end up eating your own words. Better make sure they’re palatable.

I remember a day many years ago when I walked into a little stereo shop in Virginia Beach, anxious to hear a new digital music format called the compact disc. The player was enormous by modern standards and frighteningly expensive. It was a rich person’s toy, a technological curiosity. It would never replace vinyl records and cassettes which were not only more abundant but far cheaper. Then the salesman slipped in a disc of the 1812 Overture and hit “Play”.  A few seconds later, everyone in the store knew something noteworthy had just happened. The Compact Disc became one of the greatest consumer media formats of all time and it revolutionized not only the way we would listen to music but the entire industry itself.

Looking back on it now, so many things could have gone wrong. The Compact Disc could have easily died in its infancy and very few people would have cared. It certainly wouldn’t have been the first promising format to fade into techno-oblivion. One of the reasons why it didn’t die was because the industry chose to back a single unified standard, one which offered clear benefit to consumers. The rest, as they say, was history.

Unfortunately, the digital publishing movement seems to have largely ignored the lessons of the compact disc. Instead of a single industry-wide standard, there are a variety of formats and behind each of those formats is a company desperate to see their standard prevail. There is AZW, PDF, TomeRaider, OPF, ARG, TEI, PDB and many others. For lack of a unified standard, books from various outlets are often incompatible with the very devices created to view them. The more the individual vendors slug it out, the weaker the fledgling industry gets. It needs a common format and it needs it quickly.

I read with great interest this week that Sony, a longtime purveyor of all things proprietary, was adopting the open ePub standard for its e-book store. ePub, a format developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum is exactly what the industry needs right now and while the move may be motivated more by fear of the Amazon Kindle than some sense of collective destiny, it places them on the right side of the equation…which must be a nice change of pace.

When the compact disc first debuted, the clarity of the music with its notable lack of pops and hisses was easily understood by the public as a clear advancement in technology, much as color TV had been when it debuted years before. You didn’t have to sell people on the benefits of CD’s. Those advantages were self-evident. They were physically smaller and easier to store. They were more durable and best of all, they sounded better to the average person.

One of the main problems with digital publishing is that while it has advantages, there has yet to emerge that killer feature that makes it a superior option. Turning a virtual page is not nearly as effortless or enjoyable as turning a real one. Hard plastic and glass are poor tactile substitutes for bound leather and paper. Books are also less fragile and best of all, don’t need to be charged. These are clearly setbacks.

So what can alter this equation and make digital publishing attractive? Three things….color, parity and price.

Black and white is fine for text but everything else from dust covers to college textbooks requires color. Deliver color and all of a sudden e-readers begin to replicate more of the experience of their printed counterparts, making them more valuable. The publishing industry cannot afford to leave the development of flexible, inexpensive color displays to the whims of the marketplace. It must invest in their development now and support their introduction with lots of available content.

The second issue is parity. A digital version of a magazine or newspaper cannot be a cut down, excerpted version of the original. Who would invest the money in an e-reader and a subscription to a magazine only to get less than someone who didn’t? It simply doesn’t add up.

The final hurdle is price. If consumers allow publishers to escape the ever-rising costs of printing presses, ink, and paper as well as transportation and warehousing costs, there has to be a payoff. Currently, most e-books and magazines are about half the price of the regular paper edition. That sounds great until you realize that you’re paying for a string of zeros and ones that are essentially meaningless without your device, an account, a charged battery, etc.

I recently read about a company that offers digital versions of text books for students. For a price roughly half of a standard text book you essentially get a 12 month rental of the book either on-line or downloaded for access on a single device. It sounds great until you realize that a $150 text book is still $75 in digital form and you don’t even own it. You’re renting it. Then you must have either a live-internet connection or a digital device to view it and even then, you’re probably viewing a book printed in portrait mode in the horizontal landscape mode of a standard computer display, unless you have an e-book reader in which case you can choose orientation at the expense of color. Is that kind of trade-off worth the reduced price? If you have to ask the question, that answer is unfortunately no.

Another example is the New York Times newspaper. A year of daily home delivery to my personal address is a jaw-dropping $384. The digital version which can download to my Kindle wirelessly each morning is a much more bearable $167 per year. Big savings, right? Well..consider that viewing the times on the basic paperback sized Kindle is going to be a lesson in frustration. For comfort, you need the larger Kindle DX…which is $489. You’d need to subscribe for just under 3 years to recoup the cost of the device and what is infinitely worse, you’re not getting the entire newspaper but a light stripped-down version that may or may not contain the daily information you’re paying top dollar to access. Is it compelling enough to sell some Kindles? Definitely. Is it enough to save the publishing industry? Not likely.

According to Money Magazine, top-earning authors get about 15% profit on the books they write. The other 85% is dedicated to everything else…meaning that royalties actually comprise a very small percentage of the total asking price. If a $10 electronic book means the author gets $1.50 then pricing a book at $6 or $7 really isn’t that impossible, especially considering you don’t need ink, paper, printing presses, warehouses or transportation. The Kindle store already sells most of its titles for $9.95, but I think there is room for lower prices on back catalog titles…ones that have already made their money. George Orwell’s 1984, for example, costs $9.95 like a bestseller…despite the fact that the book was first published over 50 years ago. What if that title were $2-3 instead? Would that spur Kindle sales and encourage people to grow their own personal libraries? I think it would. Buy an e-reader device and start building your own personal library for less than the cost of a grande latte at Starbucks? Now that sounds intriguing.

Right now, there are simply too many variables in the digital publishing equation. IF you invest in a device and IF your e-store has the book you want and IF it’s the right price and IF your reader is compatible with the format then you can enjoy black and white text with no color on a device that is more fragile than a common paperback and which may or may not contain the same basic information as its cheaper print counterpart. Hardly a compelling sales pitch.

To save their skins and transition to a pixel-based economy, publishers must do the following things as quickly as possible:

1) set a common standard format for e-books and periodicals. Draft a set of guidelines concerning screen size, resolution and performance and offer your content only to those manufacturers who produce compatible devices

2) make direct investments in companies that can deliver tough, efficient color displays for the next generation of e-book readers

3) drop the price of back-catalog e-titles down to the floor. break even on them. turn classic literature into a giant loss-leader for the entire industry in order toget people comfortable with the technology and excited about the savings.

4) pay special attention to the educational market. Today’s e-textbook reading student will soon become tomorrow’s e-book reading graduate. Price e-textbooks aggressively and I’d suggest some kind of trade-in credit program where e-textbooks turned in or deleted after the course is over can generate a credit which can be used to offset the cost of next semester’s e-books.

5) offer full-parity between print and electronic versions…even if that means extra work or cost on the front end. A time magazine on a Kindle must be the same magazine as the print version or there simply is no point.

6) worry less about who’ll get rich first and focus more on who’ll die next if you don’t make the necessary changes.

So listen up publishers….learn the lesson of the compact disc. Offer consumers a single unified product which works across a wide range of devices in a wide variety of outlets. Price aggressively and don’t stop until the numbers make sense for the average consumer. Treat digital publishing not as a sideline to your current business but as the replacement for a dying business model and invest accordingly. If you can marry the convenience and immediacy of the web with the timelessness and depth of the written word you’ll have given your whole industry a heart transplant and you’ll reap the benefits for decades to come. It won’t happen without risk and there are no guarantees, but the alternative is far less appealing.

As Tim Robbins says in “The Shawshank Redemption”, “Get busy living….or get busy dying.”

ultimately, the choice is yours.

The first thing that strikes you about the Griffin PowerDock when you open the box is just how nice it looks. Shod in understated aluminum with a subtle griffin logo centered on the curved front fascia, it thankfully shuns the ubiquitous shiny white plastic which has become the unfortunate standard for iPod accessories. At just 7” in length and just over an inch in total height, the PowerDock is very compact and can live comfortably on crowded desks and countertops without being intrusive. To recharge a device, simply drop it into one of the open bays. That’s it. There’s no button to push or software to load. It simply does what its supposed to without any unnecessary fuss or drama. Brilliant.

Unfortunately, before you can start using the PowerDock, it has to be configured to work with your devices and here’s where some of those little annoyances begin cropping up. To start with, the PowerDock comes with 8 different adapters for Apple’s universal dock connector. These plastic inserts are numbered and those numbers corresponds to the specific models they work with. Once you’ve found the proper adapter for your device (Griffin provides a helpful list of models and numbers) the first task is to try and read the tiny number molded into the plastic on the bottom of each adapter. I have very good eyes but even I had some difficulty both finding the number and then actually reading it. Those with poorer vision will find the process even more challenging.

The second potential issue comes from the fact that while Griffin includes adapters for a wide range of possible iPod combinations, they only include two iPhone adapters, one for the original iPhone and one for the 3G/3GS. If you need to charge 2 iPhones as my wife and I do, then you’ll find you’re missing a necessary piece. Fortunately, these adapters can be ordered individually from Griffin’s website for $1.99 each, a price much lower than the Apple store charges for their adapters which only come in a 3-pack. Unfortunately, once you add UPS shipping (the cheapest shipping option) to the initial cost, the price jumps up to nearly $7 which is really quite a lot for what probably amounts to probably a dime’s worth of custom plastic.

Finally, because the adapters are precisely molded to the size of particular devices, they are not compatible with any kind of external case. Perhaps I’m lazy but I find the process of having to remove my iPhone from its case each time I want to charge it to be somewhat annoying. Ironically, my wife and I discovered quite by accident that we could charge our iPhones while in their cases, by pulling out both adapters and simply using the charger without them. Because the universal dock is larger without any inserts in place, it becomes large enough to accommodate the extra bulk. I’m sure what Apple or Griffin would think of our final solution but it does work, even if it’s a bit unconventional.

Despite these small issues, the Griffin PowerDock is a very good solution for multi-device charging. It’s not Griffin’s fault that Apple has a lousy implementation for its universal dock connector and it’s a shame that such a nice product is ultimately burdened with design problems it had no part in creating.

That being said, I think there are a few simple things that Griffin can do to address several of these annoyances. First, I’d like to see them add a large, easy to read sticker to the bottom of each adapter showing its number, so finding the one you need isn’t such a challenge. Better yet, if that sticker were color coded to a chart with pictures of the various models, it would streamline the entire process of matching adapter to device. Best of all, it would only cost pennies per unit to implement. I also think that Griffin needs to include 2 adapters for each iPhone model to ensure that everyone is supported right out of the box. Nothing is more infuriating to a customer than to buy a product, get it home, and then discover that you’re missing a piece. In the end, bad retail karma ends up creating more work for everyone. Adding 2 more adapters would make the whole process simpler and cut down on the possibility of consumer dissatisfaction.

I was really pleased to see that Griffin chose to cover the bottom of their charger with a nice rubberized material. It was a thoughtful touch. On slippery surfaces like my laminate kitchen countertop however, the base doesn’t have quite enough weight for the non-slip material to really bite down and keep the charger from sliding. By adding a bit of additional weight to the base, the non-slip material would grip harder and the process of docking and undocking your devices would ultimately be made easier.

I also found myself wishing for some kind of indicator to show when the devices themselves were fully charged. Older iPods display an energy meter when they charge, but newer models like the iPod Touch and iPhones do not (well, they do until your screen goes dark a minute or so later). A small LED for each bay which lights up when charging is completed would save me the effort of going over and having to manually press the sleep/wake switch on top of the each device to check its status.

Now we come to the big wish, the one I think could potentially slingshot the PowerDock into the realm of superstardom….and that’s the creation of an improved docking system, one that doesn’t rely on plastic inserts. Maybe Griffin could create a new docking bay where the back wall is adjustable and can slide forward to accommodate a range of sizes. Maybe they could create a new adapter which is itself more adaptable. I don’t know what form this innovation might take, but I do know that whoever finds a more elegant way to support a wide variety of these devices will have not only my personal gratitude, but a real strategic advantage in the marketplace.

So to sum it up, the Griffin PowerDock is very good at what it does and at $39.99 for the 2 bay model and $69.99 for the 4 bay model (with lower prices online) it’s also reasonably priced. I really like this product because it takes the awkward task of charging multiple devices and for the most part makes it utterly simple. A few small tweaks would make the product even better. A new docking mechanism to replace Apple’s flawed implementation would make it a superstar.

The first thing that strikes you about the Aliph Jawbone Prime is the “in-box” presentation which is absolutely beautiful. The slender earpiece appears to float in the center of its clear plastic case. The unit itself is small, elegant and seemingly button-less with an attractive hatched texture that makes it feel more like a piece of jewelry than a hunk of black plastic, more like a piece of sculpture than a piece of technology. It’s without exaggeration, the best looking headset I’ve ever seen.

The Jawbone Prime comes 6 differently sized rubber earbuds, 2 styles of optional earloops, a USB charging cable with A/C adapter and a large set of fold-out directions, all packed origami style into a tiny space underneath the main compartment. It’s hard not to be impressed with how beautifully everything is organized and presented. The attention to detail is very Apple-esque and it turns the simple task of unboxing the headset into something both interesting and enjoyable.

Pairing the Jawbone to my iPhone over bluetooth was quick and painless, once I figured out how to turn the earpiece on. In my defense, all of  the headset controls are hidden underneath its outer skin. Pressing against the body at specific locations activates the hidden switches underneath.  To turn the unit on, you press on the side of the earpiece and hold for about 2 seconds. An audible chirp signals that the unit is active. Tapping once quickly in the same location either answers an incoming call or disconnects a call, depending on what you’re doing. The earpiece volume is adjusted in multiple stages by pressing repeatedly on the very back of the unit. Pressing down on the back of the unit and holding for approximately 2 seconds activates & deactivates the NoiseAssassin audio filter.

Aliph strongly recommends that you try the entire series of rubber earbuds and additional ear loops to find what combination is most comfortable for you. I initially ignored this advice but after some problems with the default size, I finally capitulated and discovered right away that one of the larger earpieces gave me a much better fit and meant that I didn’t have to use the provided earloops which I found to be uncomfortable. The instructions also suggest that you insert the Jawbone into the ear with the microphone pointing directly down at the floor and then rotate the earpiece up into place. This turned out to be excellent advice and made the process far less cumbersome than simply trying to jam the headset into your ear. The Jawbone Prime is one product where it really does pay to read the instructions.

In day-to-day usage, the Aliph Jawbone Prime was an excellent performer. Incoming calls sounded crisp and clear with no discernible break-ups or fading. Callers also agreed that my voice sounded clear, although with a hint of flatness common to bluetooth headsets. Battery life was not an issue for me in casual usage, but with a maximum of 4.5 hours of talk time per charge, it could potentially become one for those who spend hours each day on their mobile. Fortunately, Aliph includes an A/C adapter for its USB charging cable which is a really thoughtful addition for those on the go.

One of the most highly touted features of the Jawbone prime is the NoiseAssassin 2.0 circuitry which can be activated in places where wind or background noise make being understood difficult. In moderately noisy environments it worked quite well, although my callers could notice a slight bit of additional echo when the circuitry was in use. The Jawbone Prime uses something called a Voice Activity Sensor to help differentiate your voice from other ambient sounds in the background. For best performance, Aliph recommends that this sensor always be in direct contact with skin, which I expected to be an annoyance because the sensor is a small buttonish protrusion on the inner side of the earpiece. Fortunately, it turned out to be a non-issue. The headset was perfectly comfortable and I didn’t even notice the sensor touching my skin.

My one operational problem with the Jawbone Prime turned out to be an issue with my own fingers. On several occasions,while reaching back to tap the rear of the earpiece to adjust the volume, I accidentally brushed against the side of the unit, activating the hidden switch underneath and disconnecting my own call. I know my motor coordination skills are somewhat suspect, but I bet I’m not the only person to have done this. Even when I remembered to be careful, the lack of any change in shape or texture made it occasionally difficult to know where on the device you were pressing. I also wonder whether Aliph should consider making the disconnect command a quick double tap instead of a single one to cut down on accidental contact. Either that, or perhaps I need more dexterity training.

I also had a small issue with the way the Jawbone tells you it’s active. Most electronic devices use some kind of diode or LED which illuminates during use and then turns off when the unit itself is turned off. The Jawbone doesn’t do it that way. Instead, it uses a flashing light which illuminates briefly every 4-5 seconds. That flashing red light ends up looking more like a low battery warning light and if you remove the headset before shutting it down,  you may end up wondering (as I occasionally did) whether the headset is off or on. I would much prefer a simple LED which stays on while the unit is on. I think it’s not only more intuitive but may also help prevent accidental battery discharge as well.

In the final analysis,  I really enjoyed my time with the Aliph Jawbone Prime. I’m not sure my low volume of daily calls warrants a bluetooth headset and frankly I’m still not convinced that anyone looks good with something sticking out of their ear, even if it is something as stylish as the Jawbone Prime. Still, if you’re looking for a bluetooth headset, do yourself a favor and look at this one. It’s one of those rare products which manages to fuse style with performance. Just be careful where you press.

RECOMMENDED

If you’ve ever ventured beyond the confines of FontBook, the Mac OS X font manager, you know it’s a bit of a jungle out there. You have older PostScript fonts, you have modern TrueType fonts and you have Adobe’s one-size-fits-all OpenType fonts. You have fonts which are supposed to have screen-optimized versions but often don’t. You have fonts which are usable by one app but not another. It’s a giant headache and the more computers you have to deal with, the larger the headache becomes. What you need is something to turn whatever you have into whatever you need and basically, that’s what FontXChange does.

Simply drag a font into the main  , specify whether it’s for Windows or Mac and then choose your desired font type, OpenType, TrueType or PostScript type 1. Hitting the “Convert Fonts” button makes a new font faster than you can say, “You mean it’s done?” In my informal testing, individual fonts converted in around 1-2 seconds. Now that’s fast.

It’s also incredibly easy to use. Left in its automatic mode, FontXChange will automatically select the proper type of font encoding for the job at hand. At the same time, it allows encoding to be set manually should you need that option. It offers batch processing, which doesn’t sound like a sexy feature….until you need a couple hundred fonts translated. Then it’s the greatest feature ever. It will even recreate missing screen fonts for your older PostScript fonts, which is really handy.

FontXChange is a joy to use. It does what you want and does it quickly, with zero drama. It’s list price of $99 may look pricey at first blush, but it’s actually less expensive than much of the competition and a mere pittance compared to the cost of re-purchasing your fonts in another format. It will also run on a variety of OSX versions from 10.3-10.5 which is a blessing for older machines.

It’s a really nice piece of software.

RECOMMENDED

First of all, It must be thin. Not MacBook Thin, iPod Touch thin. The problem with existing tablet computers is that they’re simply too thick and bulky. Nobody wants to balance a device the size and thickness of an encyclopedia on their laps, even if that means having a full array of ports & and optical drive. The key to a successful tablet device is getting the right balance of thickness and weight. The newly released 13” MacBook Pro is 5.5 pounds. That’s about 3 pounds too heavy as I see it. To save the weight and power  it will probably have to rely on flash memory as the iPod Touch does. According to iSuppli, the 16GB NAND flash module used in the iPhone costs $24. With 2 banks of 2 modules, the tablet could have 64GB of storage for under $100 in cost. Add an SD card reader, like those in the new MacBook Pros and users could potentially add up to 32GB of additional storage for their own files.

Apple must also find the right size for the tablet. I think the 9.7” screen size used in the new Kindle DX is probably the sweet spot, with anything less not maximizing the device’s potential and anything larger adding additional cost and bulk. Whatever display they choose, it’s important that it be strongly resistant to sunlight washout since it will be basically pointing skyward when in use. It’s too bad that OLED screen technology is still so expensive in larger screen sizes, because it would be an ideal solution. An OLED screen would not only be brighter than a traditional LCD, but more energy efficient as well. There was an unsubstantiated rumor going around last year that Apple had signed a contract with LG for 10” OLED touchscreen displays. Could they possibly have gotten the cost low enough to make it realistic? I don’t know but an OLED screen of that size on a consumer device would be one of those big Apple “firsts” that Steve loves to introduce.

In terms of input/output, it’s always great to see a healthy selection of ports. Unfortunately, they adversely effect overall thickness, since the space they require is absolute. For the tablet to succeed, I think they’re going to have to jettison quite a bit of I/O. I think one USB port is a must and I’d like to see an SD card reader built in as well. Everything else could be handled through the iPod dock connector, including charging, syncing and 3rd party hardware integration. Of course, as a wireless internet device it needs wi-fi, 3G and bluetooth and you’d be crazy not to carry over the GPS and digital compass from the current iPhone.

The OS will probably be a modified version of the iPhone OS that has been optimized for the larger screen, but here we run into a snag. One of the big selling points for a multitouch tablet would be the thousands of apps from the app store. However, these apps are not designed for a screen any larger than that of an iPhone. Does the iPhone OS support resolution independence? Could existing apps be somehow adapted to the new screen size? Would developers really have to create 2 separate versions of the same app? I have no idea. I only know that if the iPhone is going to give birth to a whole new range of devices, they need to run the same apps. Perhaps Apple can steal a page from Palm’s new WebOS and support multitasking. having 3 or 4 apps on-screen  simultaneously would essentially turn the apps into desktop widgets and help mitigate the fact that they’re not available full screen. I also think Safari must have Flash support. Nothing dents the reputation of an internet device more than not being able to display large parts of the internet. I know Apple has no love of Flash and would prefer that it simply wither and die, but until it does so it’s an internet standard and must be supported, even if the performance is lackluster.

Another big question issue is battery life. My iPhone 3GS can drain a battery like no device I’ve ever owned and if a mobile tablet is going to succeed, it needs impressive battery life. I would imagine that driving a larger screen such as the tablet would also place additional demands on the GPU, but the form factor of the tablet would also allow additional space for batteries. Here Apple must swing for the fences and find a way to deliver enough power for a full day of computing. I mean 10 hours of web surfing, emailing and movie watching right out of the box. If they can deliver more, great…but I think 10 hours is an ambitious but attainable goal. After all, charging your palm-sized iPhone in the car is a relatively easy proposition. Trying to charge something the size of a hardback book is far less convenient.

Finally, there is the question of price. I don’t think anyone should expect Apple to sell such a device for the same price as a cheap plastic netbook. At the same time, I believe it has to be noticeably cheaper than the least expensive Mac notebook, which currently is $999. Ideally, I’d like to see the tablet offered for around $599 with the option of reducing that price to $299 if you sign a contract for data services. I think it’s important for consumers to be able to choose which option works best for them. Forcing a potential customer to purchase a data plan before you’ll allow them to own your product seems foolish and ultimately counter-productive. Is that price realistic? I think so. The current iPhone 3GS costs around $180 to build. Add on additional money for a larger screen, more NAND flash storage and a larger battery. Even if that doubled the build price (which I doubt), Apple could still make over $200 per unit in profit and even more if they get a portion of data fees on a 2 year contract.

I’d also like to see Apple push for more affordable data plans. $59.99 for a 5GB data plan is, pardon my french, bullshit. The fact that practically every carrier screws customers to a similar degree doesn’t excuse the practice or the practitioners. There CAN be a $30 data plan. There should be a $30 data plan. If that means a lower monthly data cap, then so be it. Right now, most carriers offer you the choice between 200MB per month or 5000MB per month with absolutely nothing in between. It’s ridiculous. If wireless carriers really want to stimulate the growth of mobile broadband, they should offer a range of data plans in a range of prices. Free texting for data plan subscribers on the highest tiers wouldn’t hurt either.

So basically, I’d like a thin, portable multitouch tablet that can run apps all day while connecting to the internet and costing less than $600. Will we ever see anything like that? I honestly don’t know…but even the thought of such a thing is enough to quicken my pulse and re-ignite my imagination. All I need now is for Apple to actually build the damn thing. If they do, I know I’ll be ready.

Still, there are those times when you find a product that is a genuine bargain, that rare combination of solid craftsmanship and low price. I’m happy to say that the SwitchEasy Colors line of silicon iPhone cases is one of these hidden gems. It costs half as much as other cases in its class but still manages to be well-built and thoughtfully constructed.

The SwitchEasy Colors line are fitted silicons case for the iPhone which, as the name implies, come in 10 vibrant colors including basic “stealth” black, which is my personal preference. Unlike the rough, almost sticky feeling of other silicon cases, the Colors case is incredibly smooth, almost silk-like and feels great in the hand. Better still, it slips easily into and out of pockets while providing an added layer of protection that wraps around the sides and back of the iPhone.

Most silicon cases are virtually indistinguishable from each other, but you won’t mistake the Colors case for any other because of the unusually large and colorful home button on the front of each case. This over-sized resin “jelly bean”  sits directly on top of the iPhone’s rather dainty home button, enlarging it and making it easier to find by touch. While it all sounds a bit gimmicky, I can attest to the fact that it works quite nicely and the button’s contrasting color offers a bit of visual panache.

The case itself is precisely molded to the contours of the iPhone and fits it like a glove. Button coverings are right where they should be and controls like the sleep switch and volume rocker work exactly as they should while still being protected by the case. There are cutouts for the ringer switch, camera lens, dock connector and headphone jack. SwitchEasy even provides color-matched silicon plugs which can cover both the headphone jack and the dock connector if you don’t intend to use them.

The SwitchEasy Colors case also comes with some nice additional pack-ins. There is a small microfiber cloth for removing fingerprints and not one, but two plastic protectors which can be applied directly to the iPhone’s screen to help prevent scratches. Unfortunately, given the extreme thinness of the plastic, air bubbles are a virtual certainty. SwitchEasy provides a soft plastic card to help smooth out these bubbles, but it took several attempts to get everything aligned and smoothed out. Still, it’s hard to argue with free protection and in the end, the results were quite decent.

Best of all, the SwitchEasy Colors case is very affordable. At $14.99 with $3.00 for shipping, the Colors case is about half the cost of many silicon cases you’d find at the Apple store and personally, I find the clean lines to be more appealing and tasteful than many of the other designs I’ve seen.

Choosing a case for your expensive and beloved iPhone is never an easy task. Each style of case has its own set of pros and cons and virtually all of them cost more than you think they should. The SwitchEasy Colors iPhone case is a standout because it does so many things well and yet is priced so much more reasonably than most. It’s easy to recommend and even easier to live with. A true bargain.

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At first glance, it seems like Microsoft is the primary target. The unforeseen explosion of netbooks has forced Microsoft into an awkward position. Their flagship OS, Vista, is too bloated and slow to run on such lightweight devices and Windows 7 isn’t out of the chute yet. Microsoft has been forced to extend the life of Windows XP in order to have a product to license to netbook OEM’s. Unfortunately, each additional copy of XP they sell only adds to the user base of a product they’ve been actively trying to discontinue. It also raises the possibility that as consumers continue to choose netbooks over traditional low-end laptops, Microsoft is in effect cannibalizing its own sales by opting to license a product with less built-in profit. At the same time, several Linux distros have attempted to bridge the gap by offering a netbook-friendly version of their operating system sporting larger icons and a simplified navigational structure. Unfortunately, none of these have managed to achieve critical mass, leaving the nascent field still open for another challenger.

The Google Chrome OS seems poised to offer the industry something it hasn’t really seen yet, a fast, stable operating system that isn’t kluged from a mobile OS but is designed to bring desktop functionality to a whole new breed of internet devices. But here’s where it gets interesting. When you look at who has had the most success bringing desktop functionality to a wireless device, it’s not Microsoft. It’s Apple. It’s the iPhone that stands at the epicenter of the smartphone revolution. It’s the iPhone that will give Apple an advantage in building the next wave of internet devices, and I think Google knows this.

After all, Google could have simply re-tasked Android, their open-source mobile OS for use on netbooks. Why go to the extra time, effort and expense of creating a totally new product, especially when you have manufacturers like Acer and Dell who have announced Android-powered netbooks of their own? I suspect its because Google either knows or fears that Apple will expand upon the iPhone OS in the not-so distant future.

All of this leads me back to that ancient rumor, dispelled and resurrected many times before of the Apple internet tablet device. Personally, I believe it exists and that it will see the light of day in the not too distant future. A convergence of several factors, from the maturation of 3G networks to the recent advances in OLED and SSD technology to Apple’s recent fascination with space-saving battery technology all seems to indicate that the technological barriers to a thin, fast, wireless internet tablet are quickly eroding. If you combine that new hardware with all the inherent strengths of the iPhone ecosystem, you get a very potent combination of applications and services that begins to sound similar to what Google hopes to achieve with the Chrome OS. They approaches are different of course, but both companies seem to agree that the wireless web is the next great frontier of personal computing and both companies want a say in defining that future.

Ironically, the company whose products run most of the world’s computers may be the one caught flatfooted by the rapid changes in mobile computing. Aside from being a giant apology note to Vista users, what is Windows 7 but yet another version of Windows?

When you break down the netbook phenomenon, it’s not just about cheap hardware…it’s about providing essentials. What really divides these companies is how they define what “essential ” really is. For Microsoft, it’s essential to provide the familiar Windows experience across a range of platforms and devices, regardless of whether they’re desktops, notebooks or netbooks. For Google, it’s essential to focus on task-based computing and work to disassociate the operating system from the application. For Apple, it’s essential to control the user experience and work to refine how a person interacts with their technology.

Will we see the day when the web becomes the ultimate OS? Will the breakthrough Apple tablet device ever emerge from its techno-cocoon? Will Microsoft find a way to embrace the future without abandoning its past?  It will be interesting to see how the story unfolds over the next year. One thing’s for certain, increased competition is the best catalyst for innovation and change. Regardless of whether the Chrome OS succeeds or fails, its very presence will help drive the industry forward and that is good for everyone.

The external hard drive that I use for backups suffered a massive hardware failure and died unexpectedly. Being only a backup drive, it should have been nothing more than a simple inconvenience. It wasn’t, because I had done something incredibly stupid. When my main hard drive space got low, I put some important files on that backup drive that weren’t backed up anywhere else. When my drive suddenly died, I found myself with some significant data loss. Rebuilding those lost files is going to be a bitch and it didn’t have to be that way.

The last few years have seen some welcome changes in the storage industry. Drive prices have fallen while drive densities continue to rise. It’s now easier and more affordable than ever to put together a more comprehensive backup solution that relies not on a single hard drive, but on multiple drives to add an extra layer of data protection. One such product is the Guardian MAXimus from NewerTechnology. It’s a self-contained backup solution which uses a single enclosure that houses 2 hard drives and a hardware RAID-1 controller. What does that mean? It means whatever is written to the primary drive is duplicated exactly on the secondary drive, creating an identical copy. If the primary drive fails, the secondary drive can take over immediately with no loss of data. All of this happens automatically, with no assistance required from the user. The unit looks and acts as a single hard drive. It’s an excellent all-around solution that offers both versatility and ease of operation.

Opening the commendably heavy-duty box, the first thing you notice is how beautifully packed everything is. The main drive assembly is fully cocooned on all sides by thick layers of foam padding which also contain cut-out compartments for the external power supply, cord and accessory cables. The unit also comes with set-up documentation as well as a nice software package. More about that later….

The Guardian MAXimus drive unit itself is both substantial (5.8lbs when filled with drives) and handsome, with a chassis of black aluminum and a front fascia comprised of several status lights and a large perforated grill for airflow. On the back you’re greeted with 4 different interface options. In addition to USB 2.0, you also get firewire 400 and 800, as well as eSATA. With such a wide variety of interface options, compatibility shouldn’t be an issue….unless your computer predates the USB port, in which case this is not the unit for you. I was also pleased to see that NewerTech  includes a cable for every interface the unit supports. You get an eSATA cable, a USB 2.0 cable, a Firewire 400 cable and a Firewire 800 cable right in the box. NewerTech should be commended for this. It’s a class move.

The enclosed documentation covers both Mac and Windows installation, but on the Mac side, it couldn’t get much simpler. Connect the drive unit to your mac with one of the provided interface cables, plug the array in and flip the power switch. In a few moments, the drive appears on the desktop pre-formatted in journaled HFS+, ready to use.

The MAXimus also comes with a very nice suite of free software. For the Mac, there is Prosoft’s DataBackup which can handle a variety of backup tasks including versioned or synchronized copying, full drive cloning, and of course, simple copying. It also includes a scheduling option for creating automated backups. Additionally, the disc contains Carbon Copy Cloner…perhaps my favorite backup utility and one of the easiest ways to create a fully bootable, cloned backup. NewerTech also includes the Prosoft SpeedTools suite of utilities which can handle a wide variety of tasks including defragmentation, backups, data integrity testing and even the ability to detect and map-out defective disk sectors. In short, everything you’d need to monitor, repair or backup your drives is included. I’m rarely a fan of pack-in software which tends to be buggy, crippled or just plain useless. These apps however are both polished and comprehensive. Again, NewerTech scores by actually thinking about what its customers might need in a product, and then including it.

So in the midst of all this good, are there any drawbacks? A few, perhaps. Despite NewerTech’s assertion that their “thermoregulated smart fan” offers “super quiet operation”, It’s hard not to notice the everpresent whoosh of fan noise, especially in a quiet room. To be fair it’s not overpowering, and may even be inaudible in a noisier environment such as an office. In my quiet den, however, it’s more noticeable.

Additionally, the thick aluminum chassis of the MAXimus tends to conduct a fair amount of drive vibration. In my case, the drive was placed on a shelf above my computer and the vibration against the laminate material of the shelf created a high-pitched resonance whine which was very unpleasant. The thin rubber skidpads on the bottom of the drive simply were not able to completely isolate the drive’s vibration. My solution was to put a small hand towel underneath the unit’s aluminum feet which solved the problem completely. If I could make one modification to the case, it would be the addition of thick rubber feet to the bottom of the unit. As with many RAID units, the power supply is also a fairly large brick which while not weighing particularly much does require some additional space to conceal.

As for performance, the ultimate speed of the MAXimus depends on which interface option you choose. In my tests using USB 2.0, the array averaged from a low of .5MB/sec for 4K random reads to a high of 28MB/sec for files over 2MB in size. Firewire 400 showed off its real-world speed advantage by posting better numbers, with numbers ranging from .5MB for 4K random reads to better than 32MB/sec for smaller files and over 40MB/sec for files over 1MB. The Firewire 800 and eSATA interface options should yield slightly higher transfer rates, up to the maximum speed of a single drive and would be my choice for optimum performance.

One of the best features of the MAXimus, in my opinion, is the front-mounted status lights which not only tell you which drives are in operation at any given time, but which ones have failed as well. A red light indicates which drive has failed and once you install a new drive in its place, the display lights will turn amber to show you that the remaining drive is backing itself up to the new replacement. There’s no guessing about what’s going on, and that’s a very good thing.

The Guardian MAXimus is available in a large selection of sizes from 250MB up to 2TB and prices range from $229 to $729, depending on size and configuration. You can even buy the MAXimus hardware without the drives, if you prefer to choose the capacity or make of drives yourself. I bought my MAXimus through Other World Computing, perhaps my favorite online vendor. They always provide excellent customer service and I never hesitate to recommend them. ( FYI: I have no business interests or ties to Other World Computing…they’re just consistently excellent)

All in All, the NewerTech Guardian MAXimus RAID solution hits all the right notes with me. It’s reasonably priced, comes ready to use right out of the box, and offers a nice selection of both pack-in cables and free software. The unit itself is incredibly sturdy and good looking and while fan noise is noticeable, it’s a minor annoyance at best. Its comprehensive set of status lights lets you know what’s happening with the array, and of course should a drive fail, the other drives takes over automatically. It’s an elegant solution that takes features once reserved for high-end RAID systems and brings them into the home environment where they’re most certainly welcome.

My only regret so far has been that I didn’t buy one sooner. Had I done so, I would not have lost all my data and would not now be looking at hours worth of work to reconstruct it all. As an insurance policy against that kind of loss, the NewerTech MAXimus is my new best friend.

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