Nelson Wong Life Blog

OneLessDesk Is an Efficient, Futuristic Workspace

Furniture folding into other furniture is the theme of the future, but this OneLessDesk desk brings that compactness to the present. It’s one desk, essentially, but divided out into two sections that hold your input devices and your monitor. Heckler Design made sure it was sturdy enough to hold a 24-inch iMac, yet compact enough to shove into itself when you’re done working. We prefer a gigantic flat space for all our papers and USB junk, but if you live in a 400-sq-ft basement rat hole, this $900 desk could be just the thing for you.

Sony’s Thoughts On the MacBook Air

During the Keynote, Jobs compared the Macbook Air to Sony’s TZ ultraportable, implying it had a small keyboard and screen, was too thick, and was not that good. Here’s what Sony thinks of the Apple MacBook Air:

Mike Abary, senior vice president of VAIO product marketing, thought the engineering to get a laptop that thin was extremely impressive. But Sony had a carbon fiber notebook in 2004 called the X505 that eschewed the optical and was 0.3 inches thick (compared to 0.16 of the Air) at its thinnest segment. It wasn’t that well received, and research later pointed out that “Thinness is not the holy grail”. Making something that thin and sexy cost it too much usability. (Many of you agree in the comments on Giz.)

To be fair, dropping an optical in 2004 made no sense, but it makes more sense in 2008, especially with broader internet connections, bittorrent, greater storage capacity, thumbdrives, and Apple’s Remote optical drive tech which works over wireless N. But since the X505, ultra portables from Sony have evolved into the TZ. So it is possible that Sony believes they are in many ways 4 years ahead of Apple in their understanding of what consumers want.

When the NYTimes pushed Jobs on the issues of limited storage, he responded, “Maybe this isn’t the computer for you.” I asked Mike who they thought the computer was for. “Beats me” was the initial reply, but came up with an answer: The extremely design conscious. I asked what feature he’d bring back to the Air, and without hesitating, he thought it should have for 3G.

I wish I could dismiss all of this as competitive trash talk, but too many of you feel the same conflicting feelings about where the Air fits into your collection of machines. At Giz, we’re only tormented inside because we still want to buy it, despite it being not all that practical.

Lawsuit forces Microsoft to stay mum about Xbox Live status

It looks like we won’t be seeing another barrage of Xbox Live status updates like we saw in the past few weeks anytime soon, at least as long as that little lawsuit is going on down in Texas. That unfortunate word comes from none other than Major Nelson, who said in his podcast that Microsoft can no longer update gamers on the situation due to “legal issues.” Those constraints apparently even extend as far as the Major’s Twitter page, leaving gamers in the dark in the event of yet another Xbox Live outage. In case you missed it, the lawsuit in Texas was filed after the outage in December by three disgruntled gamers, who claim that Microsoft knew activity would be at a peak during that time of year but “failed to provide adequate access and service to Xbox Live and its subscribers.” No word on any progress in that suit just yet, but we’re guessing that Microsoft and Xbox users alike are hoping it gets wrapped up as soon as possible.

DroboShare Adds Gigabit Ethernet to Data Robotics’ Lil Server Bot

We all love the idea behind Drobo, the four-drive storage robot from Data Robotics that promises auto-mounting on both OSX Macs and Windows PCs. It’s a little pricey at $500, especially since the drives cost extra, but the system just got more powerful: its new shoe fits snugly underneath, providing a gigabit ethernet network connection and support for “all major file systems” (NTFS, HFS+, EXT3, FAT32). And unlike most NAS devices, this one can be connected locally when necessary, then easily reattached to your network. Of course, it will cost an extra $200, but it’ll probably make your initial investment worth more.

How To Make Fire Balls

Holiday Season Return Policies

We know. You asked Santa for the greatest gift of all time, but he got you a Zune instead. No problem, because you can return it, just don’t miss those deadlines.

In today’s Frankenfight, we stack the return policies of major retailers including Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City and Amazon in one huge pile for you to learn, live and love. While no major reviewers are chiming in with their opinions, hopefully our research will save you at least half a headache (because there is nothing we can do about your kid who is still crying about not getting a Wii).

Is one return policy inherently better than the rest? Sure, Wal-Mart…especially if you happen to “lose” your receipt. But the real lesson here is, don’t open electronics that you plan on returning. Because it will probably cost you.

HP intros Pavilion tx2000 tablet, revamps monolithic HDX

Survived the barrage of new HP desktops? We certainly hope so, as now the firm is hitting us up with a bit of news on the laptop front. Up to bat first is the 12.1-inch tx2000 convertible tablet (pictured), which presumably takes over for the tx1000 and comes bundled with the outfit’s QuickPlay software, a webcam and an integrated microphone (beyond that, it’s wait-and-see). As for the oh-so-intimidating Pavilion HDX, it will soon be available with a 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS graphics set, an optional Core 2 Extreme processor, Blu-ray / HD DVD support and a 20.1-inch WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) XHD Ultra Brightview display. Additionally, the workhorse will boast four Altec Lansing speakers and a built-in “subwoofer,” an eSATA port, hybrid analog / digital TV tuner, room for two HDDs and a media remote to boot. As for pricing and availability, expect the tx2000 to start shipping as CES commences for $1,299 and up, while the newly pimped HDX will ship later this month and start at $1,999.

HP Updates Slimline Desktop With Dual Blu-ray/HD Player and New Monitors

HP is also dropping a pair of updated desktops and monitors for CES. First up, the HP Pavilion Slimline s3330f is a media-oriented machine, now with a sweet Dual Format Blu-Ray and HD-DVD player, plus a TV tuner and GeForce 8500 vid card with an HDMI port to connect to an HDTV. It comes in at under a grand, which is nice with the Dual Format HD drive.

hpmonitor.jpg The top of the HP brand is the Elite series, and the updated m9100 desktop is packed with an Intel Quad Core processor and up to a TB of storage, starting at $1160. The monitors are 24- and 22-inch widescreens, the w2408h (1920 x 1200 res) and 2207h (1680 x 1050), respectively, and they each come with HDMI ports and better, contrast-y ratios. They’re also HDCP-enabled, the DRM scheme intended to block piracy of HD content at the video stream level. The w2408h will go for $500, or $350 for the 2207h.

Not a basket of brand brand, new but nice little updates nonetheless—the desktops and monitors will all be available next month.

HP MediaSmart SL4282N and SL4782N HDTV with Media Center Inside

MediaSmart 1080p LCD TVs are coming of age—both the $1,900 42″ and the $2,400 47″ will have built-in Microsoft Media Center Extender connectivity and an improved higher-contrast panel (2000:1). They have 3 HDMI ports, 2 component inputs, integrated Wi-Fi in A, B, G, and N flavors and Ethernet. Has ATSC and QAM Tuners and 500cd of brightness.

Olympus LS-10 Recorder

Got a guitar for Christmas and plan on becoming the next Bob Dylan? Spring $400 on this little pocket recorder, and you just might. This mean-looking stereo recorder from Olympus weighs 5.8 ounces and can track stereo 24-bit 96kHz linear PCM uncompressed, so you get essentially everything the built-in microphones can pick up.

It can record and playback in WAV, MP3 and WMA, and can take an expensive external mic if you want something a little hotter. Mercifully, it takes SD and SDHC cards (and not Olympus’ proprietary xD ones), and can run 12 hours on two AA batteries. I would have preferred a lithium ion but there are always reusable alternatives. It comes with Steinberg’s Cubase music production software. The only thing I’m truly wary of is the user interface—Olympus has given its recorders some supremely ugly interfaces in the past, and there’s no indication that this will be any more intuitive than its predecessors.