I decided to post this for anyone shopping for a technology geek. Also, I figured it might be interesting to see what was on my 2006 list several years from now. I should be clear that don't need one single thing on this list, but it would be kinda neat to have. Here is the ordered list, with "highest-desirability" items first.

1. Garmin 010-00467-00 Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver with Heart Rate Monitor (Amazon link) $270 - I try to make myself go running 3 times a week. It would be great to know how far, how fast, and my current heart-rate, so I can better track my workouts and my health.
2. SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series 500GB Hard Drive (Newegg.com link) $150 - I always need more storage space for my movies and music. As soon as I add a new drive to the media server, I fill it up.
3. Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera + standard lens - (Ritz Camera link) $600 - My old digital camera died — I no longer have a camera. I really want a digital SLR so I can start taking pictures again. This is a brand-new model from Nikon and is the smallest and least expensive Digital SLR on the market.
4. Newton Peripherals MoGo Wireless Bluetooth Mouse (TigerDirect link) $50 - This tiny little mouse slides into the slot on the side of laptop to recharge. It is much better than the touchpad on a laptop without having to carry a big, external mouse around.
5. Motorola HS850B Wireless Cell Phone Headset (Newegg.com link) $43 - The bluetooth wireless headset for my phone died. This one is a newer model and doesn't have an annoying blinking light and has several other desirable features no one else would care about.
   
6. Philips 8.25-Inch Digital Picture Frame (Amazon link) $220 - We have a ton of digital photos that are never viewed. This digital picture frame solves that problem - pictures can be viewable all the time.
7. Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 (Amazon link) $80 - This is another neat laptop mouse that would supplement the other one. It is not nearly as portable or convenient as the MoGo mouse, but it is more comfortable and has a bunch more buttons, including ones used to control PowerPoint presentations, and it has a laser pointer.
8. Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Ritz Camera link) $750 - Yes, This lens costs way more than the camera I want, but the glass is more important than the camera body and this is one awesome lens. It has a huge zoom range and built-in image stabilization.

Here is a link to my Amazon Wish list, containing many of the items above as well as several lower cost, non-technology items. For relevancy, be sure to sort by "Priority (high to low)".

It was Warren Buffett that summed it up best:

The odds for me to have been born in the US were 1 in 50. I won the ovarian lottery. If I had been born in Bangladesh, the chances are that I would not have had such great opportunity.

If you don't believe him, visit GlobalRichList.com.  Spoiler Alert: if you earn $850/year, you are more wealthy than half of the worlds population. The idea of the site seemed a bit snobbish at first, but the purpose of it is to show people that they earn much more than they think they do, to encourage charity.

Thanks to George Nikoloudis from avclub.gr for providing the translation into Greek of my "1080P Does Matter" Article! Read the rest of this entry »

I've read various articles debating the importance of the 1080p. I want to set the record straight once and for all: if you are serious about properly setting up your viewing room, you will definitely benefit from 1080p (and even 1440p.) Why? Because the 1080p resolution is the first to deliver enough detail to your eyeball when you are seated at the proper distance from the screen. But don't just take my word for it: read on for the proof.

There are a few obvious factors to being able to detect resolution differences: the resolution of the screen, the size of the screen, and the viewing distance. To be able to detect differences between resolutions, the screen must be large enough and you must sit close enough. So the question becomes "How do I know if need a higher resolution or not?". Here is your answer.

Based on the resolving ability of the human eye (with 20/20 vision it is possible to resolve 1/60th of a degree of an arc), it is possible to estimate when the differences between resolutions will become apparent. Using the Home Theater Calculator spreadsheet as a base, I created a chart showing, for any given screen size, how close you need to sit to be able to detect some or all of the benefits of a higher resolution screen. (Click the picture below for a larger version.)

What the chart shows is that, for a 50-inch screen, the benefits of 720p vs. 480p start to become apparent at viewing distances closer than 14.6 feet and become fully apparent at 9.8 feet. For the same screen size, the benefits of 1080p vs. 720p start to become apparent when closer than 9.8 feet and become full apparent at 6.5 feet. In my opinion, 6.5 feet is closer than most people will sit to their 50" plasma TV (even through the THX recommended viewing distance for a 50" screen is 5.6 ft). So, most consumers will not be able to see the full benefit of their 1080p TV.

However, front projectors and rear projection displays are a different story. They make it very easy to obtain large screen sizes. Plus, LCD and Plasma displays are constantly getting larger and less expensive. In my home, for example, I have a 123-inch screen and a projector with a 1280×720 resolution. For a 123-inch screen, the benefits of 720p vs. 480p starts to become apparent at viewing distances closer than 36 feet (14 feet behind my back wall) and become fully apparent at 24 feet (2 feet behind my back wall). For the same screen size, the benefits of 1080p vs. 720p start to become apparent when closer than 24 feet and become full apparent at 16 feet (just between the first and second row of seating in my theater). This means that people in the back row of my home theater would see some improvement if I purchased a 1080p projector and that people in the front row would notice a drastic improvement. (Note: the THX recommended max viewing distance for a 123" screen is 13.7 feet).

So, how close should you be sitting to your TV? Obviously, you need to look at your room and see what makes sense for how you will be using it. If you have a dedicated viewing room and can place seating anywhere you want, you can use this chart as a guideline. It's based on THX and SMPTE specifications for movie theaters; the details are available in the Home Theater Calculator spreadsheet.

Looking at this chart, it is apparent that 1080p is the lowest resolution to fall within the recommended seating distance range. Any resolution less than 1080p is not detailed enough if you are sitting the proper distance from the screen. For me and many people with large projection screens, 1080p is the minimum resolution you'd want.

In fact, you could probably even benefit from 1440p. If you haven't heard of 1440p, you will. Here's a link to some info on Audioholics.com. It is part of the HDMI 1.3 spec, along with 48-bit color depth, and will probably surface for the public in 2009 or so. You'll partially be able to see the benefits of 1440p at the THX Max Recommended viewing distance and the resolution benefits will be fully apparent if you are just a little closer. I've read of plans for resolutions reaching 2160p but I don't see any benefit; you'd have to sit too darn close to the screen to notice any improvement. If you sit too close, you can't see the far edges of the screen.

In conclusion: If you are a videophile with a properly setup viewing room, you should definitely be able to notice the resolution enhancement that 1080p brings. However, if you are an average consumer with a plasma on the far wall of your family room, you are not likely to be sitting close enough to notice any advantage. Check the chart above and use that to make your decision. Also, the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) states the the most important aspects of picture quality are (in order): 1) contrast ratio, 2) color saturation, 3) color accuracy, 4) resolution. Resolution is 4th on the list and plasma is generally superior to LCD in all of the other areas (but much more prone to reflections/glare.) So pick your display size, then measure your seating distance, and then use the charts above to figure out if you would benefit from the larger screen size.

I just read the The case against 1080p article on cnet by David Carnoy. I think the article offers pretty decent commentary on side-by-side viewing comparisons of 720p and 1080p flat panels. However, the article states that it "isn't the most scientific test" and that "At larger screen sizes, the differences might become somewhat more apparent, especially if you sit close to the screen." Kudos to the author for pointing these out; I've addressed these issues in this post, which explains when and why 1080p (and 1440p) are important.

I'm particularly impressed that the cnet article references the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF), stating the the most important aspects of picture quality are (in order): 1) contrast ratio, 2) color saturation, 3) color accuracy, 4) resolution. The first three factors are definitely more important but also significantly more difficult to quantify, so resolution gets all the marketing attention (just like digital cameras and mega-pixels).

The one major cnet oversight was to compare a 42" 1024×768 Plasma to a 47" 1920×1080 LCD flat panel. No matter how hard you try to look only at sharpness/resolution, it is difficult for the differences between Plasma and LCD technology not to have an impact (Plasma is generally superior in areas of contrast ratio, color saturation, and color accuracy). Because the screen sizes are different, it is not an accurate comparison if they are viewed from the same distance (which they may or may not have been). I would much rather see a comparison between a 50" 1365×768 Pioneer Plasma and a 50" 1920×1080 Pioneer Plasma.

So, while I disagree with the statement that 1080p isn't important, I do agree that the average consumer is not likely to notice the difference. But if you are into home theater and have a room setup for optimal viewing, you will definitely benefit from the increased resolution.

This is an update of my previous list of Firefox 1.5 Extensions

I'm a long-time user of the Mozilla and Firefox browsers. The base feature set is amazing but the extensions are what really make this browser a requirement. Here are my favorite extensions: Required (I use constantly):

• Tab Mix Plus: If I had to choose only one extension, this would be it. It makes the tabs behave any way you want them to behave. I use it to make child tabs open beside their parent, for the title text to be blue when the tab is unread, to show page download status in the tab title.
• AutoFill Forms: Tired of continually filling in the same info over and over again? This extension allows you to add a button to your icon bar. When you click it, it will auto-complete the common form fields on the currently-displayed page.
• Copy Plain Text: Will not copy formatting when copying text. Prevents the need to do an Edit / Paste Special / Plain Text command in the destination application. Can be set as the default copy option and optionally removes excess whitespace. I use this on every time I copy from my browser now.
• Download Status Bar: A great replacement for the annoying download window that pops up. Less obtrusive and it give the user a bunch of options to make downloads behave how ever you want them to behave.
• DownThemAll: A download manager built inside of Firefox - no external programs to worry about.
• FasterFox: Automatically modifies settings to speed-up Firefox.
• IE Tab: Can switch the current tab back and forth between IE and Firefox, all within Firefox. Great for sites that don't support Firefox and for page design validation.
• Link Alert: Displays an additional icon by your cursor to let you know if a link is an e-mail link, external site link, java script, office document, PDF, etc. Great to prevent the opening of unexpected files.
  
• OpenDownload: Gives you the option to download a file to a temp location and launch it to the default Windows application. This is perfect for program install files that you don't want to keep, so you don't have to download install files to your desktop, run the installer, and then delete the file. Plus, it will automatically delete the temp downloads a few days later. This is similar to a feature offered by IE, one of the very few IE features I miss.
• PDF Download: Asks you how to handle a PDF: view in browser, open in external viewer, or download. Prevents those frequest lock-ups I had from acrobat crashing inside of Firefox.
• QuickJava: Disable Java and Javascript quickly, in case you visit a suspicious site that you suspect may be running suspicious code.
• Remember Mis-Matched Domains: If you frequent web sites / servers that have self-generated security certificates installed, you'll always get a security pop-up. This extension allows you to ignore that message for specified domains.
• Smart Middle Click: I love using the middle mouse button to open links in new tabs. Unfortunately, some sites don't use conventional links and instead use javascript to link to the new page, resulting in a blank tab instead of the page you'd expect. This extension resolves that problem.
• Update Notifier: The best way to see when there are updates to Firefox and any extensions.
• URL Fixer: Fixes the common typos people make when typing a URL in the location bar (such as .con -> .com); fixes about every common mistake you could make.
• Firefox Extension Backup Extension: backs-up all extensions, preferences, and bookmarks (for Windows and Linux)
• These aren't really extensions, but be sure to check the Additional Toolbar Search Engines page (I added Wikipedia and IMDB.com)
• MozBackup: This stand-alone program (not an extension) backs-up everything in Firefox and Thunderbird (Windows only)

Website-Specific Extensions:

• Amazon S3 Firefox Organizer (S3fox): If you use the Amazon S3 backup service, this is the easiest way to manage bins, change share permissions, and upload/download files.
• Kaboodle.com Add Item to Wishlist: Kaboodle.com seems to be geared toward young women, which does not classify me. Oh well, it still offers the best central wishlist features of any site I've found, using a clean web 2.0 approach.
• MyTimeZone for Ebay: If you don't live on the west coast, or if you don't like to read times in the 24-hour format, this extension is for you. It converts the times on Ebay listings to your local time zone, so you don't have to perform math to determine when an auction ends.
• Verizon Wireless Minutes Used Extension: Don't you hate it when you use more minutes than your plan allows? This extension allows you to track the number of minutes used during the current period and display it along the bottom in the Firefox info bar. Also available for T-Mobile.

Recommended for a Work Laptop:

• LeechBlock: Find yourself checking the news too often? LeechBlock will let you know when you've passed your own pre-set threshold.
• Quick Proxy:  Quickly turn the proxy on and off. Great for your work laptop. (Replaces Proxy Button)
• User Agent Switcher: At work, you are more likely to run into a website that thinks it requires IE to function properly. This extension allows Firefox to temporarily trick the server into thinking it is IE, eliminating the "You must be using Internet Explorer to view this site" message.
• Webmail Compose: Integrates webmail in case you don't have Thunderbird or any other mail client installed on that machine. Great for your work laptop if want to send an e-mail from your personal account rather than your work e-mail application.

Lightly Recommended (I use occasionally):

• Xinha Here!: Lets you launch a client-based WYSIWYG HTML editor. Uses the Xinha editor, but I would prefer TinyMCE or FCKeditor.
• Google browser sync: great for bookmark backup, but there is so much more it can do beyond that.
• Colorzilla: If you do any web design, this is great for figuring out which colors are used anywhere on a page.

Old & Obsolete or "Still On the Fence" (but I'm listing them anyway):

• Adblock Plus + Adblock Filterset.G Updater: Great for removing unwanted ads in web pages; auto-updates the blocked sites list. However, if everyone used this extension, no websites would earn revenue from ads and would go out of business. So I no longer use this extension.
• del.icio.us: Not sure I get to popularity of this site, but it allows a user to mark, save, and share interesting web content.
• Flashblock: Disable Flash animations until you give them permission to run, to disable many of those annoying advertisements. Sounds like a great idea, but this extension block way too many things and wouldn't unblock them. So I uninstalled.
• IE View or IE View Lite: Since switching to IE Tab, I don't use these two. However, I do respect their small size and simplicity. These two programs let you open the current page in Internet Explorer (useful if case the web page author does not properly support Firefox).
• StumbleUpon: Helps you find new sites that match your interests.

One must-have utility for backing-up setting prior to a reformat or computer switch is MozBackup.

Links to other Extension Lists:

• The most popular extensions on the official Firefox extension page
• Security extensions
• 25 Extensions you didn't know you needed
• List of Extensions recommended by Google engineer
• List of almost-necessary extensions
• Download.com extension lists: Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3, User Favorites
• Mozilla.org recommended extensions
• Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Improve your Productivity

   

Nicole is helping her sister recover from an ear infection tonight and I'm home alone drinking Woodford Reserve and Island Fruit 7-up, watching Tivo shows she doesn't care if she misses. Right now, I'm watching a 2-week-old episode of Veronica Mars. I've heard and noticed enough clever aspects of this this show that I feel the need to comment on it.

First of all, I started watching the show after the first season was already finished. CBS did something very un-CBS of them and played an underrated shows from their sister network (UPN) during the summer. I watched one episode and the the show immediately jump up fairly high on the Tivo To Do list. But since I missed most of the first season, I purchased it on DVD (the first TV show I've ever purchased on DVD). At first, I felt like a pathetic loser for watching a show about a high school girl. But, I've come to grips with my inner high school girl, so I guess I can write about it in public now. Besides, if you're caught-up by the age of characters, you'd be missing the most important aspects of the show: extremely clever writing, casting, and character development (isn't that part of writing?).

Anyway, I'm several episodes into season 3 and I'm once again taken aback by how clever and entertaining this show is. To give a sampling of just a few of the reasons, here is a short list based entirely on one episode:

• The premise of the entire show changed dramatically for this season (Veronica goes to college vs. being in high school) and the show still manages to maintain the same unique atmosphere.
• The show is brave enough to permanently eliminate or temporally ignore major characters and there is still so much substance it is barely noticeable
• It is extremely clever and humorous, with witty inside joke and ironic plot points occurring constantly. If you like feeling that you are smarter than everyone else, this is the show for you.
• Keith Mars, (Enrico Colantoni who played Elliot on Just Shoot Me) is about to make a love connection with a client, who happens to be Elliot's characters flame Maya from Just Shoot Me. It's a tie-in that many viewer wouldn't catch, but when you do, it just makes the show that much more enjoyable. Kinda like the Joss Whedon cameo.
• I hate it when a show changes the theme song. This season is a new network, a new setting, and I was shocked to hear a new song during the opening credits. But I soon realized that this was actually a remix of the same theme song. Tonight I realized that it was an even better version, which is near impossible to do, but it sets the mood of the show in a why the previous version did not. I listened to it twice. Who rewinds to listen to the song of the opening credits? Well, I did, and this is not the first time. A bold move and well done.
• Veronica just interviewed someone name "Charleston Chew". This is funny on so many different levels. First of all, that is obviously a candy bar as well as an unfortunate combination of Asian and English names. But I personally find this even more entertaining because that is what my first name should have been and it is my wife's favorite city in the world. But beyond the comedy, the show is thoughtful enough to include characters of multiple racial backgrounds, which gives it a much more worldly, considerate, metropolitan feel.
• They just poked fun at Junior League and pants suits all at once. If weren't married to someone who told me what Junior League was, the joke would have been lost on me. But it wasn't and I feel as if I'm the "elite few" who get it.
• Quote: "Quarterbacks run in the Manning family." I haven't heard a more clever transition to making a point about genetic predisposition. And then the episode goes into an unexpected exploration of like-father-like-son predisposition.
• Clues for the "ongoing mystery" and the "mystery of the episode" and the "other mystery of the episode" are woven throughout. I can't figure them out. I think it is impossible to do so. We're supposed to be impressed when the main character does so. But it almost always leads to an ingenious culmination of events.
• Unlike most Disney movies, Veronica Mars has a great relationship with her dad. Just like my wife does with her dad. However, she is ni a single-parent home, but the first season explained why in a painful way, giving more depth to the relationship. This was reinforced at the end of the episode with the Veronica s dad / Logan's dad comparison.
• It was just revealed that Logan's half-brother is — Logan — from Gilmore Girls — my wife's favorite show. A little cross-programming action to help the ratings, perhaps? But wait! He is not Logan's half brother! What is going on here??
• Interesting and witty dialog: Statement: "A monkey with a friend who's a bank representative can do it." Response: "So, Bubbles, feel like doing me a solid? Hmm?"
• Veronica Mars is the perpetual outsider. This was and is a perpetual definition of her character. She is disliked by both sides of every plot point, which puts her in the middle of them all with no one but herself and her few close friend to rely upon. Who hasn't felt like this at least a few times in their life?
• Made fun of Olive Garden by flopping around a white bread sandwich and saying "When you're here, you're family." (Cliff the crappy attorney)

Aerie Tuesdays:

What the heck are Aerie Tuesdays? I wish I didn't know. The best explanation is have is that it is the number one reason I shouldn't be watching the CW on Tuesday nights. Aerie Tuesdays are short commercials for the website Aerie.com that feature girls that feature high school-age girls giving junior high-level opinions. It makes me think "should I really be watching this show?" Thank goodness Tivo can skip through these as fast a possible. Out of curiosity, I visited aerie.com just so I could make fun of the teenage girl discussion forum. I was surprised to find out that it had nothing to do with teenage discussions at all. It is a front for ordering clothes from American Eagle. I'm not sure if this is better or worse than what I thought it would be. As a person with an marketing MBA, I guess I have to respect the fact that they got me to visit their site, although I don' imagine I'll be placing an order anytime soon.

But,I must say, I much prefer these spots to any politically-themed election week nonsense.

I've started receiving 3 unsolicited SPAM e-mails a day from a company called "AmazingOffers". Receiving SPAM is not really a big deal, but don't you always wonder how they found your address? This time, it appears PetitionSpot.com gave them my address. Why do I suspect this? I gave PetitionSpot.com a honeypot e-mail address that I have never given any other site. I received zero activity on it for months. Then, I suddenly started receiving 3 SPAM messages each day to this address.

I think PeitionSpot and AmazingOffers (aka OptInRealBig.com) are linked together. There is a possibility that AmazingOffers stole my e-mail address from PetitionSpot. Sharing my address would violates the PetitionSpot terms of service:

• Your contact information is confidential and we will not share it with any third party without your consent
• We will not send you unsolicited email, unless there is a need to send you important or urgent information relating to your user account or usage of this website.

AmazingOffers is acting as if it is a US-based company sending out "legitimate" spam. But they include an invalid street address (broken zip code) and provide no link to their website. They do include an unsubscribe link but these are suspicious because they each message points to a different server, including asp010.com, asp050.com, gg02.com, hh02.com, mailmx02.com, mailmx04.com, mx02.net, mx03.net, rr03.com, texams.com. Here is the contact information included in the SPAM e-mails (notice the incomplete zip code):

AmazingOffers - ADVERTISEMENT
1333 W 120th Ave. Suite 101
Westminster, Colorado 8023

I did some research and apparently they previously sent out their real contact information in SPAM messages and I found it on ToastedSpam.com:

OptInRealBig.com, LLC
1333 W 120th Ave Suite 101
Westminster, CO 80234

Google Map Link

I contacted PetitionSpot about this on 28-Oct-2006, but received no response. For now, I recommend avoiding PetitionSpot.com. I never gave my permission to receive e-mail from AmazingOffers (or what ever their name is) but yet they e-mail me 3 times a day. This is unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail and I do not approve.