John Biggs is right. 2007 was a dead year for gadgets. My Top 10 Gadget List for 2007 has some of my lifetime favorite innovations, but it would be a major challenge for me to create a list for ‘07 that extends much further beyond 10. At any rate, my top 10 is pretty predictable for regular GBTV viewers because it’s stuff I talked about over and over throughout the year.
Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 Media Edition (I had to take a coffee break after typing that), includes an application called Expression Media (formerly iView). It’s an application that visually catalogs over 120 file formats and keeps up with where media assets are stored, even if those assets are offline, say on a DVD. I’m really excited to learn more about Expression. It’s already available for XP and Vista users, so I’d like to hear from anyone who is using it.
The GeekBrief.TV MediaSmart ServerHP giveaway is still underway. All you have to do to enter is send an email with a reason you want one to hp [at] geekbrief.com. One winner will be chosen and announced in February. The complete rules are here.
Liquid Image didn’t wait for CES to announce their digital camera mask for shooting fixed-focus photos underwater. The DriveWire universal Hard Drive Adapter from Apricorn looks like a must-have for any PC toolbox.
Brief 284 wraps up with my take on hulu. Here’s a link where a few hulu beta invites are still available.
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January 2nd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Microsoft seems to have gone for the word "Expression" the way a couple of hardware makers have gone for the word "One". I picked up their successor to the unmourned Front Page, and it's called "Expression Web". Guess it's just their new branding. The dive mask is a cool idea, making a camera one less thing for the casual underwater photographer to fumble with (and possibly drop).
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I have to highly disagree on the Apple TV making your list. Having to convert all my stuff to work with a device.. while simple with visual hub, is quite annoying, and mainly a matter of principle. Yes, you can hack it, but that's more effort than I'd want for simple and "just works." Even if the rumored rentals thing comes to fruit, $300 for a playback device is … not all that enticing… UNLESS the rentals are all HD. But even so, HD/Bluray players are going to go sub $200 in mass in no time at all. Don't get me wrong, I'd like the Apple TV to succeed, but in it's current form, it's just… "blah"
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Hey Cali, So did you just order the DriveWare or have you tried it already? My finger is hovering over the "Buy Now" button…
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Just ordered it…it should be here early next week.
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Cali I would have to disagree with Expression Media. Formerly iView Media. This company has been around for a number of years and got really popular with photographer about 5 years ago. I was a use of this program for many years. When I was setting up my parents archive I had a problem with iView I looked for customer support. It took me a week to get a very generic response that didn't answer any of the simple question. The questions included screen caps, attachments, and nothing was ever answered correctly and took over a week to any response. After my first question still went unresolved after 2 months of emails back and forth I gave up. I was then getting emails to upgrade to Expressions Media for weeks. This was a free upgrade. Offered only to recently purchased copies of the Iview media. So I upgraded nothing had changed except the name, The same problems were there and after three months with NO warning it wanted me to pay to upgrade to this trial version. I have now deleted the entire program off every machine I own and will NEVER use it again.
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Thanks to you Cali, I just ordered it myself. Did you order it During January or at the end of December? They just posted about a $10 rebate which is offered if purchased between 1/1/08 and 1/31/08, which brings the price down to just below $30!
January 2nd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
It's $29.99 and has free shipping? Ordered!
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:15 pm
That mask is an odd thing to be coming out in the winter time–when it's even at freezing temps here in Florida! I was wearing shorts outside just a few days ago! So, Cali, will you be getting one of those things and trying it out? :-p
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:07 am
Hey Cali… I love you and what you and Neil do, but I've got to mention this too you… Remember, while you watch the shows, the writers receive nothing from them. No money. Nothing is paid to them to be on Hulu or any other Internet service. So, I've decided that I'm not going to watch any of the great shows I like (esp. Angel and Firefly) if their writers aren't being paid a fee for its fair use. What do you think? Will
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:43 am
I also am not interested in subscribing to Hulu, based on the fact writers, as well as actors and directors will not be getting paid. Additionally, as reported, the idiots at Hulu proudly aired the "pilot episode" which was “Our Mrs. Reynolds”, ummm, not the pilot or the first episode. What is wrong with these studios, another bonehead repeat like Fox's out of order play of Firefly. I have both complete sets of Firefly, as well as Buffy so I asked myself why I would want to go online to watch lesser broadcast quality shows. I am a Browncoat, and I assume you are too Cali, the war is not over, the Alliance needs to be stopped. Ooops, did I fall into character? See this blog post http://www.serenitystuff.com/2007/12/17/hulu-has-... Thanks, Rob
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:27 am
I too found the report on Microsoft Expression interesting. However after heading over to the Microsoft Expression web site I am currently unimpressed. I\'d love to hear from someone else actually using the product. It looks exactly like Adobe PhotoShop Album (now integrated into PhotoShop Elements) which has been doing all of that online/offline digital imaging/video file management stuff with tags and calendars for years and at less than half the price. US$ 299 is a pretty stiff price tag for a photo/video organizer package. I may be missing the big picture here which is why I\'d be interested in hearing from anyone actually using it…
Yes I could download and install the trial and try it out for myself. But then I\'d have no reason to use these sorts of forums {vbg}.
Thanks Cali (Luria) and Neal for one of the eagerly anticipated \"up\" moments of my day each day.
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:40 am
If you've still got some extra hulu invites, please send one my way.
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 am
Iview had always been know as a very powerful way to organize your digital files, I don't think it was limited to photos, but it excelled at it, and querying. I do not know how well photoshop album is now, but back in the day, it sucked for organizing beyond simple things.
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:44 am
For those that can't get a Hulu invite, but want to check it out should go to: http://openhulu.com/
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 am
For those that can't get a Hulu invite, but want to check it out should go to openhulu.com
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Cali! Where did you get the Red Monster Outlets To Go strip? I've been searching everywhere and cannot find it! I bought iView Expression for my mac a year or so ago (right before they sold to Microsoft). I noticed that the MS Super Suite Deal includes MS Expression Media. Must be trying to build a user base…
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:36 pm
The Monster Outlet to Go strip came out prior to 2007. I got 2 of them in 2006. (But at that time I only saw them in White or Black, with either 4 or 6 outlet versions.) I love it, I have found it a great addition to my briefcase for trips/meetings, etc.
January 5th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Does anyone know if there is also a european version of the outlets to go, i mean with european plug and outlets.
January 5th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
According to Monster Cable website they make a 3 outlet version that the title says is English/French/Spanish. But the description is unclear about the actual plug/sockets. I would suggest contacting Monster Cable and asking them. Monster Cable URLS: 4 Socket Outlet to Go – http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pi...6 Socket Outlet to Go – http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pi...3 Socket Outlet to Go (English/French/Spanish) – http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pi... I hope this helps. Mark
January 5th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Ah...
January 12th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
OK, I got the DriveWire universal Hard Drive Adapter this week and tried connecting a couple of old 3.5inch hds to my laptop. My XP computer was able to understand that a USB HD had been connected, but Windows wouldn't assign the hds a drive letter and I couldn't assign it one myself using the Manage tools after right clicking on My Computer. The Assign Drive Letter options were always greyed out for any hd connected through the DriveWire. I didn't want to format any of my hds since I got the device to read the data already stored on my old drives and formatting those drives makes that… harder. The only way I was able in the end to get a computer to read any data already on my hds connected to the Drive Adapter was to boot to Xubuntu Linux 7.10 and after a few attempts, connecting the drive via usb actually got the drive mounted and readable. Has anyone got any suggestions for getting this to really work for Windows XP? Thanks all!