It’s been a while since I wrote anything worthy on here, and looking at my desk got me thinking about the few new bits of hardware that I have been using a lot recently that was money well spent.

Synology Cube Station CS407 4-Bay Sata Gigabit Network

I have had the Synology Cube Station now for about 3 months. I have had a few problems with dodgy hard disks, which to be fair have not been caused by the CS407. This NAS is incredible, quick and has a plethora of extras thrown in for good measures, namely IP Camera Video Recording (I.P. Surveillance if you are into that sort of thing), Photo Station, File Station, Website hosting, iTunes Server, BT (Bit Torrent) download etc, AD support, MAC compatible, SSH, Telnet, FTP etc). It has an awesome interface and it’s very easy to use. Best of all it supports 4 Sata/SataII disks, and large capacity. I currently have 2TB’s in the way of 4×500GB at my disposal. Did I mention it’s silent as well? It’s also future proof as there are regular firmware updates from Synology’s online site. For an excellent review on this beast of a NAS, look at Benchmark Reviews, who review it in all it’s glory.

Magic Bridge II

Through the years I have collected hard drives of all sizes & types (IDE, SATA/SATA2) from the various PC’s I’ve owned, rather than throw them away. You never know what people can find on a hard drive, even when you think you have formatted it. You see it on TV all the time, these crooks use software to get back sensitive information.

So I have mine all in a box, just gathering dust, until last weekend that is, when I discovered this neat little gadget calledMagic Bridge II. It allows one to connect an IDE or SATA/II or eSATA drive or both together (SATA on one end and IDE on the other end) to a USB interface. It is brilliant and fast, since it’s USB2.0 connection (or 1.1 if you have the older type). To start, just slide a disk(s) onto the connector and hit the power button. There is also a backup button, which you can press and it backs up the contents of the disk to your HD. The Magic Bridge comes with all the power connectors, cables etc that one would need. It’s small and light as well. Backing up software to old or spare drives couldn’t be easier. It’s even better than an enclosure, since this supports everything. I paid £33 for it at Maplin.
Note: The only problem I have come across is that it doesn’t recognise drives with multiple partitions. In Computer Management it shows the disk as unknown and “format the partition” is the only option. Formatting the disk into one partition does the trick, but if this was an old disk with stuff on it, then Magic Bridge II is not the solution to reading the disk.

Belkin High Speed USB 2.0 7 Port Hub

Having an iMac has some serious disadvantages, especially if one has lots of USB devices. I have loads (Camera, Phone, Universal Remote, Magic Bridge, Key, speakers, webcam, keyboard, external drive etc), and the iMac is sadly lacking in the USB 2.0 department with only 3 USB ports. So to compliment the lack of USB I bought a Belkin 7 port USB 2.0 hub. It’s got two vertical ports which is great for quick inserts or pullouts, and 5 ports at the back for those devices that are always in use. For £17 from PC World it was money well spent. The hub is weighted as well, and has a cable management clip. Very useful.

It’s almost 18 months since I got the Nokia N95, and it’s been an incredible smart phone. There was no phone that came close to it’s features, functionality, awesome camera etc, not even the new crappy iPhone 3G could match it (and they are boasting all the features the N95 had for ages as New Features on their phone - Jokers aren’t they?) Ha Ha.

Up until the 24th of July 2008 that is!    Samsung have released the INNOV8 smart phone that has everything the N95 has and a lot more and will surely beat the new Nokia N96. In fact it makes that N96 look silly. (not sure what Nokia were thinking when they made this phone).

Take a look at these features:

Double the network speed at HSDPA 7.2Mbps.
Latest OS version from Symbian.
8MP camera, with image stabilizer.
Bigger battery at 1200mAh.
An lense cover that opens and closes automatically.
16GB flash drive + SHDC up to 16GB.

Awesome features, but my one concern which they have not menioned yet is the power adapter and the USB connection. Jo has the Samsung D800 and it has a Custom USB and power adapter, not the universal USB connector. That to me is annoying. It means having to carry around the cables.

< ![endif]–> Lets hope it’s not the case.

For now this is definitely my next phone, unless Nokia release a similar phone, with similar features. This will happen, but when?

I was reading a great article over at Allaboutsymbian.com where they have reviewed the Ngage gaming on a Nokia N95. It’s not surprising to read that the N95, which is over a year old is still one of the best phones to play the new generations games. That must say something for this great phone.

Below is an extract taken from that review.

The N95’s combination of a high class phone with an N-Gage-friendly layout and an excellent sharp screen makes it in our opinion the best N-Gage phone available at the moment. And because it’s well over a year old the N95 is now available for a fairly reasonable price, more or less the same as the N81, yet it far exceeds the N81 technically.

If you’re in the market for an N-Gage phone right now, the N95 would be our current recommendation. You may also want to consider its cousin the Nokia N95 8GB, which has a larger screen and multimedia/gaming buttons that are raised from the surface slightly. However, we have heard conflicting reports on whether the 8GB version can use its multimedia keys as gaming keys: some people say they can, others say it doesn’t work.

Still on the topic of phones, I found an awesome phone comparison site called Phone Egg. You can compare just about every phone on the market. I did a few comparisons between my phone and some of the so called "better phones on the market", and the Nokia N95 whipped their arses….

It’s going to be tough deciding on my next phone, when my contract runs out in a few months time. I still don’t see a better phone on the market.

If you are puzzled by the subject, Xobni is Inbox spelt backwards. It’s a brilliant plug-in for Microsoft Outlook that makes a crap program better. Once installed it adds a toolbar on the side of your Outlook page and the toolbar offers a wealth of information FAST.
You have access to contact details, telephone details, who this person is linked too, links to all attachments in the related emails, previous conversation (similar to Gmail) all in quick and easily accessible toolbar.

The cheeky bastards!!!! I refer to Microsoft and T-Mobile, who are my mobile service provider. MSN Live is free on every computer, yet if you want to install it on a mobile, then you have to fork our £1.50 - They must be having a laugh! T-Mobile have an even bigger cheek, considering I am already paying for Web n’ Walk, which is 24/7 Internet on my phone. How is a phone with 24/7 broadband different to a computer? We live in the age of technology, yet scum bag companies like T-Mobile think they can rip us off with even more pointless costs.

It’s amazing what one can do these days on your mobile phone. I took this photo on my way to work, while walking through Trafalgar Square. Within an instant I had sent it to my web site. The image is click-able, so a larger photo is available.

I know this topic is already covered over at Guinnespig.net, so I decided to add a different spin to it, especially if one doesn’t have either of what was discussed on their site. Apple iPod or Nokia N95 Sony Playstation 3 or Microsoft Xbox 360

As crazy as that might read, it’s actually very simple to do and will cost you very little money, (unless of course your waterproof bag breaks and leaks, and @#%$’s up your expensive phone), in which case, "you try anything I have said at your own risk". Just make sure you buy the right bag. I bought mine on the flight over to Mexico. It was in the duty free catalog, and was selling for £15. In the box were three vacuum sealed bags, each with three seals on each bag. One bag was for a clam phone, another for a mini camera, and the third bag was for an iPod. It even came with waterproof headphones. A jolly good idea. Please note: Even though the camera bag is meant for a mini camera, a camera with a lense would easily break, because there is not much scope for the extending lense, but for the Nokia N95 it was perfect, because the lense does not extend. You do get bigger bags, but I can’t imagine it being very practical. It would be better to stick with a proper camera housing then with seals. For a test subject, I placed a tissue in the bag and sealed it. I then held it underwater in the bath. A few bubbles released, which I read were correct, and after a few minutes was pleasantly surprised. No leaks what so ever. It is actually very clever the way the bag seals and then folds over each other. There is a black plastic sheath that goes over the seals and it has some plastic yellow clips to secure it in place. The bag also has a strap which can be tightened or loosened as need be. The bag also floats, which is an extra bonus. So as mentioned above I tested the bag with my Nokia N95 inside, at a place called Xel-ha in Mexico. Xel-ha has the most spectacular natural aquarium of the world. It’s a large natural salt water inlet, and you are encouraged to snorkel and use a tube to paddle around the bay. There are tons of fish where ever you swim, and being in the Caribbean, the water is warm. It’s impossible to get cold. I took loads of photos with my phone in the bag, while in the water and it was incredible knowing i had a good camera around my neck, rather than one of those ‘cheap and nasty box, use-once and then throw away’ cameras that the shops sell for a killing. I didn’t just use it above water, underwater it worked just as well. Bear in mind this is a photo through the transparent plastic. No bad at all. Nothing wrong with those colours. (These photos have been resized for the web site). I didn’t just take photos. No way oze! The Nokia N95 has an excellent video camera on board, and because the bag was transparent and flexible, it was very easy to use the phone in the water, so I just flicked over to the video mode and shot loads of video as well (with sound). I had an 8GB SDHC card in the phone, which meant I could take over 2 hours worth of video. The web site or email video mode is sufficient as you will see, and about 2 or 3 minutes worth of video takes up about 4MB. High quality mode, which is viewable on a TV takes up about 21MB for every 3 or 4 minutes give or take, so you can take a lot of video if you have the right card. I had over 4GB’s of music on the phone as well, so it wasn’t a problem for me. Below are some videos that I took with the Nokia N95. They are also on Youtube.com if you’re interested. (Just search for Lookatbowen or ‘Nokia N95 Underwater’. Everyone out there on the bridge or in the water was extremely jealous that I had this camera bag, and some were even more surprised to see me with a Nokia phone in the water. The dumb founded stares were quite funny. So many people asked me where they could buy the bag from. If only I had a salesman brain, I would have bought the entire stock on the plane (Next time!!!). Finally I would definitely recommend this product. There are various sites selling these bags online. You can do the searches yourself. I am not giving them a free advert. Although be careful, as I have seen a few US sites selling them separately for ridiculous prices. I got everything (camera bag, ipod bag with waterproof earphones & clam phone bag) for £15 or $30. Mike

For a few years now I have wanted a proper media center that is not connected to a PC, but more like a standalone system that can access your network or shared devices. Well that time as finally arrived, with the arrival of the Popcornhour network media streamer. Unless you frequent Audio/Visual Forums or websites, the chances are pretty great that you have never heard of it. However if you are interested in knowing more, click on the following link: (Streamers and Network Players).

As these devices go, they are cutting edge and not available in the high street. They are also somewhat buggy and unless you are willing to settle with a device where you’ll have your fair share of hiccups it’s recommend you not buy one. Of course the advantages of owning one is that you get to test theses new devices, advice the makers of bugs, and hopefully they fix them and release new firmware  and you have a player that plays every possible format (codec) under the sun.

The popcornhour is no bigger than DVD enclosure, and fits perfectly underneath your LCD or amongst your other media devices and is an incredible piece of equipment considering it can play all of the following formats:

Video [extension(s)] :
• ASF/WMV [.asf, .wmv] | MOV/MP4 [.mov, .mp4] | MPEG2PS [.ps] | MPEG2TS [.ts] | AVI [.avi, divx] | MPG [.mpg, .mpe, .mpeg, .m2v, .vob, .vro]

Video :
• 4 standard definition streams (PAL and NTSC formats) in any of the following
format: VC-1, H.264, MPEG-4 and MPEG-2
• One high definition stream 1920 x 1080i(60), 1920 x 1080p (30), 1280 x720p
(60) and one standard definition stream simultaneously
• H.264 BP@L3, MP/HP@L4.0, HP@L4.1
• WMV9 MP@HL
• VC-1 MP@HL, AP@L3
• MPEG-4 ASP @L5 1
• MPEG-2 MP@HL and MP@ML

Subtitle [extension(s)] :
• MicroDVD [.sub]
• SubRip [.srt]
• Sub Station Alpha [.ssa]
• Sami [.smi]

Audio [extension(s)] :
• WAV [.wav, .pcm] | ADIF, ADTS [.aac] | M4A [.m4a] | O.G.G. [.ogg] | ASF/WMA [.asf, .wma] | FLAC [.flac]

Audio :
• MPEG 1/2 Audio Layers I, II, and III (MP3)
• Dolby Digital® (AC-3)
• DTS
• PCM
• MPEG-2/4 AAC LC and HE
• Microsoft WMA and WMA Pro
• Supports the audio sampling rates at 8, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48, and 96KHz
• Audio samples at 16, 20, 24, and 32 bits per channel
• FLAC (software decode)

and supports the following networks and Protocols:

Networking :
• Ethernet interface, 10-baseT/100-baseT
• miniPCI card slot for IEEE 802.11n
- Wi-Fi SSID : Maximum 64 characters
- Wi-Fi Security : WEP 64-bit, WEP 128-bit, WPA, WPA2

Protocols :
• UPnP AV NMPR v2.1
• UPnP 1.0 (connect to myiHome Lite)
• Bonjour
• Streaming via HTTP protocol over local network or the Internet
• WMS over HTTP support via the Internet
• RTSP over HTTP support via the Internet
• Multicast/IGMP support (optional)

But that is not all. You can also go online and watch online videos from sites such as YouTube, Google Video, MetaCafe, VideoCast, DL.TV, Cranky Geeks.
You can also listen online to the following: iPodcast, Radiobox, ABC News, Jamendo
Share or post Photos at Flickr, Picasa
Keep track of RSS feeds from Yahoo! Check the Weather, Traffic alerts, Stock, Cinecast, Traffic Conditions.
You can watch Peer-to-peer TV from SayaTV and listen to Internet Radio from Shoutcast.

It is an incredible device, and what makes it really special is that the firmware updates can be accessed online from the box and the team behind the Popcornhour (NMT - Network Media Tank) are constantly improving this device, which is a welcoming thought.

Well I just checked on MPC Club and I see that the DViCo M6500a is back on track and I should have mine by the end of January or early February (I hope). I am talking about the network media player I have ordered through them. It’s meant to be the "dogs bollocks", and I can’t wait to receive mine (so watch this space for the review).

If you want to read all about it, then follow this link from AVForums (8 pages of discussions) or visit the MPC Club where you can find many topics on tit. Bear in mind that if you are looking for a similar player with the features it is offering, you are not going to find it in and device selling on the High Street.

I see that I am on the official list to receive one (which is great news, considering the MPC Club only purchased 350 as part of their buy-in scheme).